A. M. 2515. A. C. 1489; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3765. A. C. 1646. NUM. xviii. TO THE END OF DEUT.. serpents among them; but after the death of several, and upon the humiliation of the rest, he commanded Moses to cast a brazen serpent, of the same size and figure with those that infested them, and to fix it upon a pole, situate on some eminent ground, that as many as were bitten by the living serpents, might look up to the brazen one, and be healed. Which accordingly was done, and had its intended miraculous effect. Several were the marches and encampments which the Israelites, without committing the least hostilities, made between the countries of Moab and Ammon, till they came at length to the country of the Amorites. And from hence Moses sent ambassadors to Sihon their king, demanding a passage through his country, and offering to pay for all manner of necessaries, without giving him the least disturbance. e But the Amorite that they had coupled together, the female never fails to kill the male, and that her young ones kill her, as soon as they are hatched. Herodotus, who had seen several of these serpents, tells us, that they very much resemble those which the Greeks and Latins call hydræ; and Bochart has quoted a great number both of ancient and modern authors to prove that they really are the hydræ. They are but short, are spotted with divers colours, and have wings like those of a bat. The ibis is their mortal enemy; and Herodotus tells us, that at Butos in Egypt, he had seen a vast quantity of their skeletons, whose flesh these birds had devoured. They love sweet smells, frequent such trees as bear spices, and the marshes where the aromatic reed, or cassia, grows; and therefore, when the Arabians go to gather the cassia, they clothe themselves with skins, and cover all their heads over, except their eyes, because their biting is very dangerous. Bochart de Animal. Sacr. part 2. b. 3. c. 13. a The brazen serpent continued among the Jews above 700 years, even to the time of Hezekiah, king of Judah; but when it came to be made an object of idolatry, and the people for some time had paid their incense and adoration to it, that pious prince caused it to be broken in pieces; and by way of contempt, called it nehushtan, that is to say, a brazen bawble, or trifle. At Milan, however, in the church of St Ambrose, they pretend to show you a serpent made of brass, which they tell you is the same with that of Moses. But every one may believe of this as he pleases.—Calmet's Dictionary, under the word Serpent. It may here be proposed as a difficulty, how Moses came to offer the Amorites terms of peace, considering that the Israelites were commanded to destroy them, and to take possession of their country. But to this it has been answered by some learned men, that notwithstanding God had expressly doomed this people to an extermination, yet Moses thought himself at liberty to indulge his usual meekness, and to begin with gentle and amicable measures, though he might at the same time be persuaded, that they would avail nothing; and this probably at the suggestion of God himself, to cut off all occasions or pretence of complaint from the Amorites, as if they had not been honourably and fairly dealt with, and that the equity and righteousness of God's proceeding with a prince of so savage and obstinate a temper, might appear in a stronger light, when the consequence of his refusing a free passage to the Israelites, and bringing his army into the field against them, should happen to be his own defeat and destruction.-Bibliotheca Biblica on Num, xxi. 21. e Grotius, in his second book on the Right of War and Peace, c. 2. sect. 13, is of opinion, that according to the law of nations, the highways, seas, and rivers of every country, ought to be free to all passengers upon just occasions. He produces several examples from heathen history of such permission being granted to armies, and thence he infers, that Sihon and Og, denying the Israelites this privilege, gave a just ground of war; nor does he think that the fear which these princes might conceive is any excuse at all for not granting the thing, because no man's fear can take away another man's right, especially when several ways might have been found out to have made their passage safe on both sides. But when all is said, it seems not clear that all men have such a right as this great man thinks they may claim. No man, we know, can challenge a passage through a prince, not thinking it safe to receive so numerous a people into the heart of his kingdom, not only denied them a passage, but, accounting it better policy to attack, than to be attacked, gathered what forces he could together, and marched out to give them battle. But not far from Jahaz, where the engagement was, the Israelites overthrew him; and having made themselves masters of his country, put all, both man, woman, and child to the sword: and not long after this, Og, d king of Bashan, a man of a prodigious gigantic size, attempting to obstruct their passage, underwent the same fate. For they seized his country, and utterly destroyed the inhabitants thereof, reserving only the cattle, and spoils of the cities, as a prey to themselves, as they had done before in the case of Sihon. Encouraged by these successes, the Israelites marched to the plains of Moab, and encamped on the banks of the river Jordan, opposite to Jericho. This put Balak, who was then king of Moab, into a terrible consternation; for supposing himself not able to engage the mighty force of Israel, he had not only made a strong alliance with the Midianites and Ammonites, his neighbours, in order to stop their progress, but thought it advisable likewise, before he began any hostilities against them, to try how far the power of Balaam's enchantments (a noted magician in Pethor, a city of Mesopotamia) might go, in turning the fortune of the war towards his side. To this purpose he despatched a select number of his nobles, with costly presents to Balaam, entreating him private man's ground without his leave; and every prince has the same dominion in all his territories that a private man has in his land. As for the examples, therefore, of those who had permitted armies to pass through their kingdoms, they are examples of fact rather than of right, and of such as were not in a condition to refuse what was demanded of them. For the thing is notorious, that several countries have suffered very grievously by granting this liberty; and therefore no prince, who consults his subjects' safety, is to be blamed for not granting it; nor was the war with the Amorites founded upon this reason, as we shall see hereafter.-Patrick's Commentary. d The land of Bashan was one of the most fertile cantons of Canaan, which reached on the east to the river Jordan, on the west to the mountains of Gilead, on the south to the brook Jabbock, and on the north to the land of Geshur. The whole kingdom took its name from the hill of Bashan, which is situate in it, and has since been called Battanæa. It had no less than sixty walled towns in it, besides villages. It afforded an excellent breed of cattle, and stately oaks, and was, in short, a plentiful and populous country.-Universal History, b. 1. c. 7. e The description of this gigantic king, who was the last of the race of the Rephaims, or vast prodigious men, we have in Deuteronomy iii. 11., and from the size of his bed, which was preserved a long time in the city of Rabbath, the capital of the Ammonites, we may guess at his stature. It was nine cubits long, and four cubits broad, that is, fifteen feet four inches and a half long, and six feet ten inches broad. But the Jewish doctors, not content with such pigmy wonders, have improved the story to their own liking. For they tell us, that this bed of nine cubits could be no more than his cradle, since himself was six score cubits high, when full grown; that he lived before the flood, and that the waters of it, when at the highest, reached only up to his knees; that, however, he thought proper to get upon the top of the roof of the ark, where Noah supplied him with provision, not out of any compassion to him, but that the men who came after the deluge, might see how great the power of God was, wh had destroyed such monsters from the face of the earth.-Calmet and Munster in Deut. c. 3. f In 2 Peter ii. 15, Balaam is said to be the son of Bosor, according to our version; but as the words, 'the son,' are A. M. 2515. A. C. 1489; OR, According to Hales, a. M. 3765. A. C. 1646. NUM. xviii. TO THE end of deut. in the king's name to come, and curse him a people 1 Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness; and With this permission he set forward with the princes of Moab; but as he was on the road, an angel met him, whom, though he perceived him not, his ass plainly saw, and therefore turned aside into the field to avoid him. With much ado, Balaam beat his ass into the road again; but when the angel stood in a narrow passage between two walls, which enclosed a vineyard, the ass for fear ran against one of the walls, and crushed Balaam's leg, which provoked him so, that he beat her again. At last, the angel removed, and stood in a place so very narrow, that there was no possibility of getting by him, whereupon the ass fell down under her rider, and would go no farther. This enraged the prophet still more; and as he was beating and belabouring the poor creature most unmercifully, God was pleased to give the ass the faculty of speech, wherein she expostulated the hard usage she had met with; and as Balaam was going to justify himself, he was likewise pleased to open the prophet's eyes, and let him see the angel standing in the way with a naked sword in his hand, which so terrified him, that he fell down upon his face, asked pardon for his trespass, and offered to return home again, if so be his journey was displeasing to God, a 12 Peter ii. 15. not found in the original, but were inserted by the transla- c. 7. a Num. xxii. 31. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, Go, while the darkness from thy sight I turn, Dryden. Milton seems likewise to have imitated this, when he makes Then purged with euphrasy and rue Paradise Lost, b. 11. 411. ED. That his journey was displeasing to God, he himself could not be ignorant, because, in his first address, God had expressly interdicted his going. Being resolved, however, out of the man's wicked inclination, to raise some kind of advantage, and to make him, who was hired to curse, the instrument of pronouncing a blessing upon his people, God gave him now free leave to proceed. When Balak understood that Balaam was on the road, himself went to receive him upon the confines of his dominions; and having, in a friendly manner, blamed him for not coming at his first sending, which Balaam excused upon account of the restraint which God had laid on him, he conducted him to his capital city, and there entertained him publicly, with his princes and nobles that day; and the next morning carried him to the high places consecrated to Baal, that from thence he might take a view of the extremity of the Israelitish camp. Whilst they were here, the prophet ordered seven altars to be erected, d and seven oxen, and seven rams to be got ready; and having offered an gods, both male and female, as Selden (De Diis Syris, c. 1.) b The word Baal signifies Lord, and was the name of several shows. The god of the Moabites was Chemosh, but here very probably is called by the common name of Baal. And as all nations worshipped their gods upon high places, so this god of Balaam to them all, that from thence he might take the most Moab, having more places of worship than one, Balak carried advantageous prospect of the Israelites. These high places were full of trees, and shady groves, which made them commodious both for the solemn thoughts and prayers of such as were devout, and for the filthy inclinations and abominable practices of such as affected to be wicked.-Patrick's Commentary. c According to the account which both Festus and Servius give us of ancient times, the heathens sacrificed to the celestial gods only upon altars: to the terrestrial, they sacrificed upon the earth; and to the infernal, in holes digged in the earth. And Hebrews, even by God's own appointment, Lev. iv. 6, yet we though the number seven was much observed among the do not read of more than one altar built by the patriarchs, when they offered their sacrifices, nor were any more than one allowed by Moses: and therefore, we may well suppose, that there was something of heathen superstition in this erection of seven altars, and that the Moabites, in their worship of the sun, sacrifice to the seven planets. This was originally a part of the who is here drincipally meant by Baal, did at the same time Egyptian theology; for as they worshipped at this time the lights of heaven, so they first imagined the seven days of the week to be under the respective influence of these seven luminaries. Belus, and his Egyptian priests, having obtained leave to settle in Babylon, about half a century before this time, might teach the Chaldeans their astronomy, and so introduce this Egyptian notion of the influence of the seven ruling stars, which Balaam, being no stranger to the learning of the age and country he lived in, might pretend to Balak to proceed upon in his divinations and auguries.-Le Clerc's Commentary in locum, and Shuckford's Connection, vol. 3. b. 12. d Num. xxiii. 1. Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.' The ancients were very superstitious about certain numbers, supposing that God delighted in odd numbers. Around his waxen image first I wind ED. e In the text it is said, that Balak and Balaam 'offered on every altar a bullock and a ram,' Num. xxiii. 2. But though it was customary, in those early days, for kings to officiate as priests, yet it is rather to be supposed, that Balak only presented the sacrifices, and that Balaam performed the office of sacrificing them; but then it may be made a question, to whom the sacrifices were offered. And to this it may be answered, that they might both have a different intention; that Balak might suppli A. M. 2515. A. C. 1489; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3765. A. C. 1646. NUM. xviii. TO THE END OF DEUT. ox and a ram on each altar, he left Balak to stand by | of not daring to transcend the divine commands; but the sacrifices, while himself withdrew to consult the being willing to gratify the king, and in compliance to Lord; and upon his return, acquainted the king, "How his covetous temper, to gair. some reward to himself, impossible it was for him to do the thing that he might he offered to advertise him of what the Israelites would expect from him, namely, the cursing of a people who were do to his people in subsequent ages; but still, against so signally under the protection of heaven; and so mag- his own inclination, he bestowed blessings on Israel, nifying their prosperity and increase, he concludes with and prophesied, That a star should come forth from a wish, that his fate might be theirs, both in life and Jacob, and a rod from Israel;' that it should smite death." the chiefs of Moab, and destroy the children of Seth ; that Edom should fall under its power; and that the Amalekites and Kenites should be extirpated in fine, that the western nations, the Greeks and Romans, should vanquish the Assyrians, destroy the Hebrews, and perish themselves. Balak, at these words, expressed no small surprise; but still not discouraged, he hoped that the change of the place might possibly produce some better luck; and therefore taking Balaam to the top of Mount Pisgah, he tried whether he might not be permitted to curse them from thence. But all in vain. The same number of altars were erected, the bullocks and rams were offered, and the prophet withdrew to consult God, as before; but still he returned with no better news: for the purport of his declaration was, “That God was fixed and immutable, in his favour to the Israelites; that he would not suffer any bloody designs, or any frauds or enchantments to prevail against them, but would finally make them victorious wherever they came." : After these predictions, as if vexed at his own disappointment in missing the reward he expected, and with a purpose to revenge himself on the Israelites, as the occasion of it, he instructed the Moabites and Midianites in a wicked © device; which was to send their daughters the Israelites' army, or of the blessings which God hath in store for them; but since God has decreed to make them great and happy, I have been forced to speak, as you have heard, instead of what I had otherwise designed to say."-Jewish Antiquities, b. 4. c. 6. This was so great a mortification to Balak, that to silence Balaam, he forbade him either to curse or bless; b Num. xxiv. 17. There shall come a star out of Jacob.' but he soon changed his mind, and desired him to make This prophecy may possibly in some sense relate to David, but a further trial at another place. Accordingly another phor of a sceptre was common and popular, to denote a ruler, without doubt it belongs principally to Christ. Here the metaplace was made choice of. Fresh altars were raised, like David: but the star, though, like the other, it signified in and fresh sacrifices offered; but all to no purpose: prophetic writings a temporal prince or ruler, yet had a secret Balaam perceiving that God was resolved to continue and hidden meaning likewise. A star in the Egyptian hieroglyphics denoted God. Thus God in the prophet Amos, reprovblessing Israel, without retiring, as aforetimes, under pre-ing the Israelites for their idolatry on their first coming out of tence of consulting God, at the first cast of his eye upon Egypt, says, 'have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the tents of the Israelites, brake out into ejaculations of the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? but ye have borne praise; and then, in proper and significant metaphors, of your god which ye made to yourselves,' Amos v. 25, 26. The the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun, your images, the star foretold their extent, fertility, and strength, and that star of your God is a noble figurative expression to signify the 'those that blessed them, should be blessed, and those image of your god; for a star being employed in the hieroglythat cursed them, should be cursed.' phics to signify God, it is used here with great elegance to signify the material image of a god: the words, the star of your god, being only a repetition of the preceding, Chiun, your image; and not, as some critics suppose, the same with your god star. Hence we conclude that the metaphor here used by Balaam of a star was of that abstruse, mysterious kind, and so to be understood, and consequently that it related only to Christ, the eternal Son Newton, however, is of opinion, that the literal meaning of the of God." (Warburton's Divine Legation, b. iv. sec. 4.)-Bishop prophecy respects the person and actions of David.-Dissertations on the Prophecies, vol. 1. p. 139.-ED. By this time Balak, enraged to hear Balaam, whom he had sent for to curse the children of Israel, thus three times successively bless them, could no longer contain himself, but smiting his hands together, he bade him haste and be gone, since, by his foolish adherence to God's suggestions, he had both abused him, and defrauded himself. Balaam had recourse to his old excuse, a cate Baal, while Balaam was making his addresses to the Lord, though with such superstitious ceremonies, as it is likely, were used by the worshippers of Baal. Or why may not we suppose, that Balaam, telling Balak, that he could effect nothing without the Lord, the God of Israel, persuaded him to join with him at that time in his worship, that they might more powerfully prevail with him to withdraw his presence from the Israelites? For there is no reason to imagine, that Balaam would go to inquire of the Lord, immediately after he had sacrificed to other gods. -Patrick's Commentary. a Josephus brings in Balaam making his apology for himself, in order to pacify Balak's rage, for his having blessed the Israelites, instead of cursing them. "And does king Balak think, that where prophets are upon the subject of fatalities, or things to come, they are left to their own liberty, what to say, and what not, or to make their own speeches? We are only the passive instruments of the oracle. The words are put in our mouths; and we neither think nor know what we say. I remember well, says he, that I was invited hither with great earnestness, both by yourself and by the Midianites; and that it was at your request I came, and with a desire to do all that in me lay, for your service. But what am I able to do against the will and power of God? I had not the least thought of speaking one good word of c Though Moses makes no mention of this contrivance, where he describes the interview between Balaam and Balak; yet in the 31st chapter of Numbers, ver. 16, he lays the whole blame upon Balaam: and Josephus accordingly informs us, that after he had gone as far as the river Euphrates, he bethought himself of this project, and having sent for Balak, and the princes of Midian, he thus addressed himself to them. "To the end that king Balak," says he, "and you the princes of Midian, may know the great desire I have to please you, though, in some sort, against the will of God; I have thought of an expedient, that may perhaps be for your service. Never flatter yourselves that the Hebrews are to be destroyed by wars, pestilence, famine, or any other of these common calamities; for they are so secure under God's special providence, that they are never totally to be extinguished by any of these depopulating judgments: but if any small and temporary advantage against them will give you any satisfaction, hearken to my advice. Send into their camp a procession of the loveliest virgins you can pick up; and to improve nature, dress them up with all the ornaments of art, and give them their lessons how to behave themselves upon all occasions of courtship and amour. If the young men shall make love, and proceed to any importunities, let them threaten immediately to be gone, unless they will actually renounce their country's laws, and the honour A. M. 2515. A. C. 1489; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3765. A. C. 1646. NUM. xviii. TO THE END OF DEUT. into the camp of the Israelites, in order to draw them judicature consisting of the heads of all the families, first into lewdness, and then into idolatry, the sure me- and to try and hang all that had been guilty of this thod to deprive them of the assistance of that God who whoredom and idolatry, without respect to friendship or protected them. This artifice succeeded; (for the very kindred; which was accordingly done, and about 1000 next account we have of the Israelites is, that they lay more were in this manner put to death. encamped at Shittim, where many of them were deluded by these strange women, not only to commit whoredon with them, but to assist at their sacrifices, and worship their gods, even Baal-peor,) which was a crime so detestable to God, that he punished it with a plague, which, in a short time, carried off about 24,000 of the offenders. This, however, was not the only punishment which God exacted; for he commanded Moses d to erect a court of с of that God who prescribed them, and finally engage themselves to worship after the manner of the Midianites and Moabites. This, says he, will provoke God, and draw vengeance upon their heads."-Jewish Antiquities, ibid. a The Jewish doctors tell us, that on a great festival, which the Moabites made in honour of their god Baal-peor, some Israelites, who happened to be there, casting their eyes upon their young women, were smitten with their beauty, and courted their enjoyment; but that the women would not yield to their motion, upon any other condition than that they would worship their gods. Whereupon pulling a little image of Peor out of their bosom, they presented it to the Israelites to kiss, and then desired them to eat of the sacrifices, which had been offered to him. But Josephus, tells the story otherwise, namely, that the women, upon some pretence or other, came into the Israelitish camp, and when they had enamoured the young Hebrews, according to their instructions, they made a pretence as though they must be gone; but upon passionate entreaties, accompanied with vows and oaths on the other side, the subtle enchantresses consented to stay with them, and grant every thing that they desired, upon condition that they would embrace their religion.-Patrick's Commentary, and Josephus, ibid. 6 The Jewish doctors are generally of opinion, that this Baalpeor was the same with Priapus, the idol of Turpitude; and that the worship of him consisted in such obscene practices, or postures at least, as were not fit to be named. Others have asserted that this god was the same with Saturn, a deity adored in Arabia; nor is it unlikely, that the adventure related of Saturn, and his castration by his own son, may have introduced the obscenities that are practised in the worship of this idol. But others, with great assurance maintain, that Peor was the same with Adonis, whose feasts were celebrated in the manner of funerals, but the people who observed them at that time, committed a thousand dissolute actions, particularly when they were told that Adonis, whom they had mourned for as dead, was returned to life again. However this be, it is very probable that as Peor was the name of a mountain in the country of Moab, the temple of Baal stood upon it, and thence he was called Baal-peor.-Calmet's Commentaries and Dissertations; Patrick's Commentary; and Selden De Diis Syriis. e St Paul, in his observation upon the judgments which befell the Israelites in the wilderness, tells us expressly, that the number of those who were cut off in this plague was no more than 23,000, (1 Cor. x. 8.) Whereas Moses makes them no less than 24,000. But this difference is easily reconciled, if we do but consider, that in the 24,000, which Moses computes, the thousand who were convicted of idolatry, and thereupon were slain with the sword, in the day of the plague,' (Num. xxv. 5, 18,) are comprehended; whereas the apostle speaks of none but those that died of the pestilence.-Patrick's Commentary. d According to our translation, the command which God gave Moses, runs thus,-'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,' (Num, xxv. 4.) But unless we can suppose that the heads of each tribe were guilty of this lewdness and idolatry, the sentence here denounced would have been highly unjust: and what others allege, that they were guilty of a shameful neglect in not opposing the growing mischief, and punishing the offenders; this might be very probably out of their power, since even Moses himself, very frequently found them too headstrong for him. It was somewhat strange, there By this time, the greatest part of the people being come a little to themselves, were bewailing their folly and wickedness, at the door of the tabernacle; when they were surprised with e an instance of the most unparalleled boldness in one of the chiefs of the tribe of Simeon, named Zimri, who, in the sight of Moses, and the whole congregation, had brought a young Midianitish princess, whose name was Cozbi, into the camp, and was leading her into his tent. Their impudence, however did not go unpunished; for Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the high priest, fired with a just indignation and holy zeal, followed them into the tent, with a javelin in his hand, where, in the very act of whoredom, he thrust fore, that our translators should take the passage in this sense, when the Samaritan copy, the Jerusalem Targum, most of the ancient translations, and several later commentators of great note, have made the word otham, that is, them, not to refer to the heads of the people, but to such as had joined themselves to Baalpeor: and so the meaning of the command will be, that the heads of the people should divide themselves into several courts of judgment, and examine who had committed idolatry, and, after comviction, cause them to be hanged, that is, hanged after they were stoned: for among the Hebrews none were hanged alive, but in the cases of idolatry or blasphemy, were first stoned, and then hanged up against the sun, that is, publicly and openly, that al the people might see, and fear to sin.-Patrick's Commentary. e When the Israelites, at the instigation of the strange women they had received into the camp, were fallen from lust into idolatry, Moses, according to Josephus, perceiving that the infection began to spread, called the people together, and, in a general discourse, reminded them how unworthy a thing it was, and how great a scandal to the memory of their ancestors, for them to value the gratifying of their lusts and appetites above the reverence they owed to their God, and their religion; how incongruous a thing, for men that had been virtuous and modest in the desert, to lead such profligate lives in a good country, and squander away that in luxury which they had honestly acquired in the time their distress; and thereupon he admonished them to repent in time, and to show themselves brave men, not in the violation of the laws, but in the mastery of their unruly affections. This le spoke without naming any one: but Zimri, who took himself to be pointed at, rose up, and made the following speech:- You are at liberty, Moses," says he, "to use your own laws: they have been a long time in exercise, and custom is all that can be said for their strength or credit. Were it not for this, you would, to your cost, have found long since, that the Hebrews are not to be imposed upon; and I myself am one of the number, that never will truckle to your tyrannical oppression. For what is your busines all this while, but under a bare pretext, and talk of laws and God, to bar us not only from the exercise, but the very desire liberty? What are we the better for coming out of Egypt, if: be only in exchange for a more grievous bondage under Moses You are to make here what laws you please, and we are to abid the penalties of them, when at the same time, it is you only th deserve to be punished for abolishing such customs as are autho rized by the common consent of nations, and setting up your ow will and fancy against general practice and reason. For my ow part, what I have done, I take to be well done, and shall make difficulty to confess and justify it. I have, as you say, married strange woman. I speak this with the liberty of an honest mar and I care not who knows it. I never meant to make a secre of it, and you need look no farther for an informer. knowledge too, that I have changed my way of worship, e reckon it very reasonable for a man to examine all things, the would find out the truth, without being tied up, as if it were in despotic government, to the opinion and humour of one sing man."-Jewish Antiquities, b. 4 c. 6. I do ar f Upon this fact the Jews found what they call the judgme A. M. 2515. A. C. 1489; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3765. A. C. 1646. NUM. xviii. TO THE END OF Deut. them both through the body, and by this action, not only | Phinehas, who took with him the ark, and what was obtained an high commendation from God, but an estab-reposited therein, together with the sacred trumpets, to lishment likewise of " the Aaronical priesthood in him, blow in the time of action, in order to animate the and his posterity, for ever after. men. The Jewish army was but small in comparison As soon as this disorder was quieted, and the offenders with the vast numbers they marched against; but God, punished, Moses began to bethink himself of revenging who put them upon the expedition, blessed them with the indignity which the Moabites and Midianites had put such success, that they slew five kings, and, among upon Israel; and to this purpose commanded a detach-them, the wicked prophet Balaam; put every one to the ment of 12,000 choice men, that is, 1000 out of every tribe to go against them; among whom was the gallant b с sword, except women and children; and returned to Moses with a very considerable booty; one fiftieth part of which he ordered to be given to the priests, another fiftieth to the Levites, and the rest to be divided among the soldiery. of zeal, which authorized such as were full of this holy fervour, to punish any violent offenders, those, to wit, who blasphemed God, or profaned the temple, &c., in the presence of ten The remembrance, however, of what damage the men of Israel, without any formal process. But this example of Phinehas countenances no such practice; nor can this Midianitish women had done, by alluring the Israelites action, done upon an extraordinary occasion, by a person in a to idolatry, made him think it unsafe to spare their public authority, moved thereunto by a strong divine impulse, lives; and therefore, he ordered all those that had ever and (what is a circumstance that some people add) in a common-known man, as well as all the male children to be wealth not perfectly settled, be made a precedent for private men, under a different situation, to invade the office of a magistrate, and with an enthusiastic rage, to persecute even those that are most innocent; as we plainly find it happened among the Jews, when, in the latter times of their government, they put this precedent in execution; of which St Stephen whom they inhumanly stoned, and St Paul whom they vowed to assassinate, without any form of justice, are notorious instances.-Patrick's and Le Clerc's Commentaries. and had lately performed a singular piece of service, which had gained him great reputation, and from hence some have imagined that he was the fitter person to be sent with an army' to avenge the Lord of Midian;' as it is certain, that in after ages, the Maccabees, who were of the family of the priests, were appointed chief commanders. But then it must be considered, that these Maccabees were the supreme governors of the people, and as e This, however, is to be understood with a certain limitation; such, had a right to the military command; that in the war with because it is manifest, that after some successions in the line of the Amorites, Moses had sent the forces under Joshua's conPhinehas, the priesthood came, for a while, into the family of Eli, duct; and that Phinehas, in short, had another province appointed who was descended from Ithamar, the youngest son of Aaron. him, which was to take care of the holy instruments: but what The reason of this interruption is not mentioned in Scripture; these instruments were, is another question. Several interprebut some great sin, it is reasonable to suppose, provoked God toters are of opinion, that they were the Urim and Thummim et aside the line of Eleazar for some years, till Eli's sons like- which Phinehas might take along with him, in order to consult wise became so wicked, that the priesthood was taken from them, God, in case of any difficulty that might arise in the manageand restored, in the days of Solomon, to the posterity of Phine- ment of the war; and to countenance this, they suppose that , with whom it continued as long as the priesthood lasted. Eleazar was superannuated, and his son substituted in his room. And this is enough to verify the promise of an everlasting priest- But it may be justly doubted whether Phinehas, being the only hood, since the words everlasting, perpetual, and the like, in a son of the high priest, and not yet capable of that office, could be general and indefinite sense, denote no more than a long duration. substituted to perform this great charge, which belonged to the But there is another way of solving this difficulty: God had, high priest alone: nor do we find any warrant for consulting the before this time, limited the priesthood to Aaron and his de- Lord by Urim and Thummim, but only before the tabernacle. scendants, and to them it was to be an everlasting priesthood It seems, therefore, much more likely, that by the holy instruhroughout their generations,' (Exod. xl. 15.); upon this account ments, Moses means the ark of the covenant, and what was init might properly enough be called, as limited to that family, cluded in it, which, in the following ages, was wont to be carried *the everlasting priesthood.' So that God does not here promise into the field, when the people went to fight against their enePhinehas, and his seed after him, an everlasting grant of the mies. Nay, Joshua himself, not long after this, ordered the ark priesthood, as some commentators take it; nor a grant of an to be carried with priests blowing trumpets before it, when he sverlasting priesthood, as our English version renders it, but surrounded Jericho, (Josh. vi. 4, &c.); and therefore, since the ther a grant of the everlasting priesthood, that is, of the holy instruments are here joined with the trumpets, it looks very priesthood limited to Aaron and his descendants by that appella-probable that they should signify the ark. Nor can we apprehend -Selden de Success. Pontif. b. 1. c. 2. Shuckford's Consection, vol. 3. b. 12. that Moses ran any risk in venturing the ark upon this occasion, because God had assured his people, that they should obtain a The Scripture gives us no account of the order of battle be- complete victory over the Midianites. It must be confessed, howtween these two armies; but, in all probability, they were dis-ever, that the ark is never thus expressed in any other part of psed according to the method of the ancient people of Asia; Scripture; and therefore, perhaps they give as true a sense of the and therefore we may range the Israelites upon one line, formed words as any, who make the holy instruments and trumpets to be twelve corps, consisting of a thousand meu each, at the head one and the same thing, and the latter no more than an explicaof which was the ark of the covenant,' surrounded by the priests tion of the former; which trumpets the priests were commanded and Levites, whose business it was to sound the charge, as well to take with them, that they might sound a charge when the defend the ark. The Midianites, we may suppose, were, in engagement began, according to their direction, (Num. x. 8, 9,) manner, ranged in a phalanx, upon one line, and as the and as the practice was in future ages; (2 Chron. xiii. 12.) Iraelites were doubtless much inferior in number to their enemes, they made much larger intervals between the corps of a thor and men each, in order to penetrate the enemy's line in different places. This was the constant practice of the Jews, whenever they were inferior in number to their enemies.-Cal Dictionary, under the word Midianites. d Moses ordered the male children to be slain, that thereby he might extirpate the whole nation, as far as lay in his power, and prevent their avenging the death of their parents, in case they were suffered to live to man's estate. For it is no hard matter to conceive how dangerous such a number of slaves, conscious that they were born free, and had lost their liberty with the masWhether this Phinehas was sent to command the troops sacre of their parents, might have proved to a commonwealth, which were appointed by God to take vengeance on the Midian-every where surrounded with enemies. Why he was so severe Dex, or whether he went along with the army only to perform such sacred offices as should be required by the general, who, with more probability perhaps, is thought to be Joshua, are questions arising from the silence of Scripture concerning the Chief commander. Phinehas, indeed, was a man of great courage, against the women, we need not wonder, if we do but consider, that either by prostituting themselves or their daughters, they had been the chief instruments of drawing the Israelites into idolatry." Though no illustrious fame is got by taking revenge on a woman, and such a victory is attended with no praise. yet |