and they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron. And the people chode with Moses, or quarrelled with him, and spake, saying, "Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord;" for they thought it a much easier death to die as those did who were probably killed by lightning, or those fourteen thousand seven hundred, who died by pestilence, than it was to die of fatigue and thirst.

Moses and Aaron humbled themselves before God, and prayed to him as they had often done at other times.

In answer to their prayer, the Lord again appeared in the cloud. And Moses was ordered to take his rod and to speak to the rock, which, as God commanded it by Moses, should obey its Creator, and give the people water. So Moses called the people before the rock, and he said unto them, "Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock ?"

Do not you see that Moses said what was very wrong here? He said, "Must we fetch you water out of this rock?" as though he and Aaron could do it without God's order. How foolish, and humbled, and disgraced he would have been, if God had let him smite the rock in vain! God did not, however, disappoint him; he gave the water as he had promised, but he said, "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me," or set apart and show my honour, before "the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." In this chapter we learn that Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, died at Kadesh.

And Aaron being stripped of his garments, which were given to his son Eleazar, at the command of God, went up with Moses to the top of Mount Hor, where he died; for God said, "Aaron shall be gathered unto his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah." "And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel."

The Brazen Serpent.

NUMB. XXI. 4-9.

We find Israel again murmuring, about having neither bread nor water, and they seemed never to trust in God but just at the moment when they saw his miracles. This was very wicked; for he had promised to take care of them, and they ought to have believed his word.

I

The Lord did not now kill the people by lightning, or pestilence, or the sword of their enemies; but he showed that he could do it by many ways, if they continued to rebel against him.

"And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died:" that is, he sent serpents, whose bite was like fire, making a similar wound for pain with that which a burning coal would make. Serpents of this sort, are still found in those parts; but God doubtless made a great many more than usual, to bite this murmuring congregation. And this was a punishment that taught them to see and remember that it was for their crime; for, as they had murmured about water, the burning bites of these animals caused the most cruel thirst, and, without very speedy help, all that were bitten of them must die, so you find great numbers did perish.

Then the people repented and prayed. "And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it shall live."

This was an odd remedy; but it would try the sincerity of the repentance and faith of the people; it would show if they were now ready to trust God by looking at it, and, if they were cured, they would know that God had sent the fiery serpents, and that the cure was not done by the serpent, but by him.

This serpent had, however, a very important meaning concealed under it, and was a sign of the salvation which a poor sinner obtains who looks in his mind, or by faith, as it is called, to Jesus Christ, who is given to be the Saviour of sinners. The soul is bitten, as it were, by the serpent sin, and, if not cured, it must perish for ever; but Jesus Christ said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Balaam and his Ass.

NUMB. XXII.

The Israelites now pitched their tents "in the plains of Moab." And as the Amorites had been conquered by them, and King Og and his sons, and all his people slain, Balak the king of Moab was terribly frightened, and the Moabites thought that the Israelites would "lick" them all up, or destroy them as easily as the ox does the grass in the field.

So what did Balak do, but sent to Balaam, a famous conjuror, who lived at a place called Pethor. This man pretended to divine, or to know secret things, and it was thought could, by cursing anybody, do him he cursed great harm. However, as he did nothing without money, the king sent some to him by the elders or princes of Moab and of Midian.

If this man had cursed Israel, he could have done them no harm; but God was so tender of the honour of his people, that he would not allow him even to do this in appearance, and he made him hesitate in his mind what to do.

So Balaam begged the messengers to wait for a night and lodge with him ; and then God said to Balaam, perhaps in a dream, "Thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed."

And in the morning, Balaam told the princes of Balak that God would not let him go; and they went and told the king that Balaam refused to go with them to curse Israel.

Now, as Balaam did not tell the princes that he was not permitted by the Lord to curse Israel, but only that the Lord refused to let him go to Balak, and as the princes told Balak nothing about God's interference, but only that Balaam would not go, the king thought he would try Balaam again. Perhaps, had he known that Israel's renowned God had interfered, he would have been afraid to try any more.

And now he fancied that, perhaps, he had not paid respect enough to Balaam. So he sent some princes to him, higher in rank than the first, and they told Balaam that if he would curse Israel he should be promoted to great honour. Balaam, however, said, that if Balak would give him a house full of silver and gold, he could only do what God should bid him. So he begged them to stop for a night, as he did the former messengers, that he might again know what he should do.

Now Balaam was not a good man, but "loved the wages of unrighteousness," and would have been glad to have had Balak's offered honours and money; but you see how God has the hearts of all men in his hand, and Balaam could do nothing to hurt, or even cast seeming disgrace upon Israel, without God's permission.

When the morning was come, God told him to go with the messengers, and so he saddled his ass and rode off. In this country it is not usual for rich people to ride upon asses, but in those times and in the countries spoken of, there were beautiful asses, on which the most distinguished persons rode. Nothing could be more plain, than that Balaam wished to go to Balak and

their sins; "and he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed." But so shocking an offence against God had caused the death of no fewer than fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those that died the day before.

The Wonderful Budding of Aaron's Rod.

NUMB. XVII. 8.

You may, perhaps, have seen some persons of different sorts of authority, walking with long staves, peeled white, or painted, or gilt; something of the kind was in use among the princes or chiefs of the tribes of Israel; you know there were twelve tribes, and so among them there were twelve rods belonging to their twelve princes.

Well, God told Moses that he would now work a miracle; that is to say, he would do something so out of the usual order of things, that he would so strongly convince Israel that he had chosen Aaron for his priest, that they should rebel no more on that account.

So he ordered Moses to get the twelve rods of the tribes, which were merely twelve dry sticks, and "to lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony," meaning the ark, in which the testimony or tables of the law were kept, and that man whose rod should blossom should be his priest.

Now, the rod of the tribe of Levi was marked with Aaron's name; and, after the rods had been laid up for a night, on the morrow Moses went into the Tabernacle, and "behold the rod of Aaron, for the house of Levi, was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds." This was wonderful-wonderful that a dry stick should bud, and still more wonderful that the same rod should bear buds, and blossoms, and fruit, at the same time!

Then Moses brought out all the rods which all the princes took, as they could easily know their own by having their names on them, and Aaron's wonderful rod was shown to the people. When they saw this rod, they were sadly frightened, and feared that they were all going to be punished with death, for having rebelled so against God, who now more plainly than ever gave honour to Aaron. God, however, did not punish them any further; but the rod was preserved in the ark for ages, still with its buds and blossoms, and fruit, and there it remained in remembrance of the rebellion of Israel, and of God's choosing Aaron.

Provisions for the Priests and Levites.

NUMB. XVIII.

God having fixed Aaron in his office, and now showed to all the people that he would have him for his high priest, to atone for the people, he gave him very solemn orders to do his work, and for the Levites to do theirs. And he told Aaron that he and his sons should "bear the iniquity of the sanctuary," that is, the blame of neglect should fall upon them, if anything was done to defile it, and offend God there; so that they were obliged to look carefully after everything that was done by the Levites, as well as what they did themselves.

And then he provided comfortably for the priests from the different sacrifices; the parts not burnt with fire, and offered to the Lord, were to be theirs; and the best of the wine, and the oil, and the wheat; and the first ripe fruits of the land, such as figs, and apples, and plums, and pears, and pomegranates, and olives, and grapes. So were also the first-born of every animal, and even the first-born child was redeemed, or a sum of money given to the priest for him. Besides which, they had thirteen cities to live. in, with houses and lands, and gardens and fields. (Sce the twenty-first chapter of Joshua.) The priests had also many other like means of support.

But Aaron had no inheritance in the land of Canaan when it was afterwards divided among the tribes; he was to have only the portion just described.

The Levites also were provided for. They were to have one part out of ten of all that the ground brought forth-that is, if there were ten bushels on a man's ground, he was to give one bushel to the Levites, whether barley, wheat, or any other grain. While employed in the Temple, they had provisions from its stores, and they were further allowed thirty-five cities to live in.

Thus God showed that he would have his ministers to keep to their work, and be faithful to their duty, and that he would have them comfortably taken care of while they served him.

The Red Heifer.

NUMB. XIX.

There were a great many customs, under the law, to explain which would take up too much room in this work. But not a few of them were meant to