the heavenly places in order to the enjoyment of the things promised there. But in the wilderness, it is patience which is in exercise. But if there be failure, if we fall into idolatry, if we commit fornication with the world by yielding to its baits, if in any way whatever we contract friendship with the world in the desert, we make wars for ourselves, without having even the advantage of acquiring, in this kind of warfare any spiritual ground. God is obliged to make our relations with the world undergo a total change. If we had not formed intimacies with them, we should not have had that trouble; but, since as our friends they deceive us, we must become enemies. Having no relations whatever with them is our proper and peaceful position. How often we must act the part of enemies with the world, because we have sought to have to do with them as friends and that they were a snare to our souls! However, God gives a complete victory as soon as we treat them as foes; only, all that seduced must be utterly destroyed; there must be nothing spared, no concession.

The Lord orders also concerning the joy resulting from the wars of His people with their enemies. He chooses whom He will for the war and honors them; but He will also honor in their place those who have been left there according to His sovereign will, and who have faithfully discharged the perhaps less arduous task allotted to them, but who have, however, done it according to His will. God Himself is also recognised there in the Levites and the Priests. There is another thing connected with this; if we have occasioned wars out of Canaan, it is also through the indispensable wars of the people of God against those who opposed their march through the wilderness, that they have acquired a good land, and up to a certain point, rest, on this side Jordan, that river of death which serves as a boundary to the true land of promise. Having possessions down here to which the heart clings, this heart clings also to the blessings which are on this side Jordan, to that measure of rest which the people of God have acquired out of Canaan. "Bring us not," they say, "over Jordan." Moses felt the bearing of this wish. If he could not enter the

land, according to the government of God, his heart was there nevertheless. He recalls the contempt of the pleasant land at Kadesh-barnea, and severely rebukes Reuben and Gad. However the tribes engaging to go equally forward until the land be conquered, he grants their request and settles them in the land, with the halftribe of Manasseh. Nevertheless, the history of the holy Book shews us that these tribes were the first to suffer and to fall into the hands of the Gentiles. "Do you not know," says Ahab, " that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and the possession of the Syrians?" Happy they who patiently wait for the blessings of God, till they have gone over Jordan, and who, in the meanwhile, take patience for their portion, rather than the blessings which are on this side, though they are the gifts of the providence of God! They are less secure. There are no frontiers like Jordan, appointed by God as such in His counsels of grace. If God numbers His people name by name, He shows at the same time His government and His faithfulness; for, while keeping them, yet there were none of the first numbering left, save Caleb and Joshua. Also does He remember all their long journey through the wilderness; each stage is before His eyes and in His memory; and now He lays down, in principle, the possession of the land by the people, and the total destruction of the inhabitants who were to be entirely driven away and not abide in the midst of Israel, else those who were left would be a torment for the people, and God also would do unto Israel, as He had done to those nations. It is a dangerous charity, then, that which spares the enemies of God, or rather which spares itself, through unbelief, in its conflicts with them, and which is soon led to form with them connexions that bring the judgment which those enemies have inherited, and themselves also deserved. Finally God takes care of His people in all respects; He marks the limits of the country they were to enjoy. He settles the taking possession, the portion of His servants, the Levites, which were not to have any inheritance. of their cities were to be refuges for those who had unwilfully committed murder; a precious type of Israel

Six

themselves, who, in their ignorance killed the Christ. In this sense, God judges them to be innocent. They are guilty of blood which they could not bear; but guilty in their ignorance like Saul himself, who is a striking figure, as an abortion (eктрæμа, 1 Cor. 15, 8), of this same position. Such a murderer, however, remains out of his possession, until the death of the priest living in those days. And so it will be with regard to Israel. As long as Christ retains his actual priesthood above, Israel will remain out of their possession, but under the safe keeping of God. The servants of God at least, who have no inheritance, serve as a refuge to them, and understand their position and welcome them as being under the keeping of God. When this priesthood above, such as it is, ends, Israel will return into their possession. If they did before, it would be to pass over the blood of Christ, and the land would be defiled thereby. Now, the actual position of Christ is always a testimony of this rejection, and of His death in the midst of the people. Therefore God keeps the inheritance such as He has appointed it (xxxvi). All this then presents, not the passage itself through the desert, but the relations between that position and the possession of the promises and of the rest which follows. It is in the plains of Moab that Moses bore testimony, and a true testimony, to the perverseness of the people; but where God justified them, shewing His counsels of grace, in taking their side against the enemy, without even their knowledge, and pursued all the designs of His grace and of His determinate purpose for the complete establishment of His people in the land He had promised them. Blessed be His name! Happy are we, in being allowed to study His ways! D.

NUMBERS.

The name NUMBERS is probably taken from the LXX, in which 'Apopot is the title of the Book. In Hebrew is the title; which is the fifth word in the first verse of its first chapter, "And the Lord spake unto Moses in the Wilderness.”—Ed.

No. XX.

NUMBERS, CHAPTER VI.

SINNING BY THE DEAD AND ATONEMENT MADE; OR, THE NAZARITE DEFILED AND RESTORED.

THE 6th of Numbers is here presented arranged in this manner, followed by a brief explanation thereof, in order to show its typical application to the WHOLE ELECT FAMILY-to those destined for Heaven, in the first place; and next, to those for whom earthly blessing is prepared in the kingdom.

THE THREEFOLD VOW OF SEPARATION. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord" (verses 1, 2).

ABSTINENCE FROM WINE.

He shall separate himself from WINE and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk" (verses 3, 4).

THE HAIR SUFFERED TO GROW.

"All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head; until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of THE HAIR OF HIS HEAD GROW (verse 5).

SEPARATION FROM THE DEAD.

"All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall come at NO DEAD BODY. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die; because the consecration of his

God is upon his head (ver. 6, 7). All the days of his separation he is HOLY UNTO THE LORD" (ver. 6—8).

THE DAYS OF SEPARATION.

An undefined period, according to the Nazarite's choice, during which
he keeps his vow, as above.

THE NAZARITE DEFILED-HIS CLEANSING.

"And if any MAN DIE VERY SUDDENLY BY HIM, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he (having been unclean seven days see Numb. xix. 19), shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing (namely, by the ashes of the red heifer, with the water of separation, see Numb. xix. 12), on the SEVENTH DAY SHALL HE SHAVE IT" (verse 9).

SEVEN DAYS

Of uncleanness.

THE DAYS OF SEPARATION BEGIN AFRESH.

"And on the EIGHTH DAY he shall bring TWO TURTLES, or TWO YOUNG PIGEONS, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he SINNED BY THE DEAD, and shall hallow his head (as in verse 5), that same day. And he shall CONSECRATE UNTO THE LORD THE DAYS OF HIS SEPARATION (as in verse 8), and shall bring a LAMB of the first year for a trespass offering: but THE DAYS THAT WERE BEFORE SHALL BE LOST (see verse 8), because his separation was defiled" (verses 10-12).

THE DAYS OF SEPARATION

Repeated, an unlimited period as at first, during which the threefold vow
is again observed.

THE OFFERINGS AT THE END.

"And this is the law of the Nazarite when THE DAYS OF HIS SEPARATION ARE FULFILLED: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; and he shall offer his offering unto the Lord, one HE LAMB of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one EWE