to get his rewards, or he would not have delayed the messengers a second time, when he remembered what God had before told him; and though God told him to go if the men called him, yet he went without being called, which proved that he was quite ready to find any way to get out of his restraint.

So "God's anger was kindled" because Balaam went; "and the Angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him."

An angel is a spirit, and has not flesh and blood as we have. In those times the angels of the Lord often appeared for Israel, but God does not interfere for his people in the same way now, though his care is still shown towards them. Neither Balaam nor his two servants that were with him saw the Angel. But we read, "And the ass saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand; and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field; and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way. But the Angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side," so that there was no going out into the field, as before, to avoid the Angel, with a stone wall on each side of the path. "And when the ass saw the Angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he smote her again. And the Angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn, either to the right hand or to the left." And when the ass saw the Angel of the Lord, once more, "she fell down under Balaam, and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff. And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me; I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee. And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face." And then the Angel said to him the words recorded in the twenty-second and twenty-third verses of this chapter.

There are two wonderful things here, besides the appearance of the Angel: that the ass should see the Angel when Balaam could not, and that a creature made without the power to speak, should open his mouth and reprove Balaam. But the Lord, who afterwards opened the eyes of Balaam, could as

easily open the eyes of the ass; and as the ass did not speak of himself, which would, indeed, have puzzled us, but only as the Lord opened his mouth, we know that "with God all things are possible."

After the Angel had reproved Balaam, he was sorry that he had beaten the ass, and offered to go back again, if the Angel wished.

However, seeing that Balaam had evidently a great longing to go, he said be might, but he was to take care what he said. "So Balaam went with the princes of Balak."

As soon as Balak heard that Balaam was come, he went out to meet him, being both eager to see him and desirous of paying him honour; however, Balaam told him that he could say nothing but what God should permit.

And then Balak offered oxen and sheep in sacrifice to his idols, that he might be successful in cursing Israel; and on the day following he took Balaam into the high places of Baal, where altars were built to the idol so Lamed, and where, from a great height, he might see all the people of Israel as they were encamped beneath, and so pronounce a curse against them.

Balak disappointed in cursing Israel.

NUMB. XXIII., XXIV.

When Balak and Balaam got upon the high places, Balaam desired Balak to build him seven altars, and prepare him seven oxen and seven rams. And he told Balak to wait by his sacrifice while he went alone to another high place, to see if God would say anything more to him.

And there God met Balaam in some wonderful way, and Balaam boasted that he had now built his altars, and offered his sacrifices, not to idols, but to God himself. But "the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord," and he could still get no leave to curse Israel, for though he would have been glad to please Balak, yet God put a restraint upon his spirit and his month, and he was obliged to speak what God told him.

So he went back to Balak and took up his parable or speech, and he said, "How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed?" And then he foretold that the people should "dwell alone," and the Jews have been a people separate from all other people to this day, though it was more than three thousand years ago when Balaam spoke the prophecy. And he said that their numbers should be very great, which came to pass; and he told of their happiness, and no people on the face of the earth had more reason to be happy, as long as they served God with all their heart.

Then Balak was very angry and said unto Balaam, "What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether."

However, he thought he would try another place, where Balaam would see only a small part of the people, and that perhaps he would then think less of them.

66

"And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered," as he had done before. Then Balaam retired again, to see if God would speak to him. And on his return, Balak asked him about what he had heard. And he said to Balak, Behold, I have received commandment to bless; and he (God) hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it." He told him God could not lie or change; that he saw no iniquity in his people Israel, meaning not any that he would punish by cursing them, for God often saw iniquity in them, and chastised them for it. He assured him that they were as strong as the unicorn, meaning not the horned horse, which you see with a lion, in the King's coat of arms, and which is all a fancy, but a beast called the rhinoceros, which is wonderfully strong. He declared that no schemes of his could do Israel any harm, and that, as a courageous lion would eat of his prey, and drink the blood of the slain, so Israel should beat all their enemies.

Balak, still more vexed than before, then cried out, "Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all."

Yet he wished to try once more if Balaam could not get leave to curse Israel, and so he took him to the top of Peor, a high mountain in Moab, and sacrificed again as before.

But Balaam saw that all his enchantments were useless, and he waited on the spot to see what God would now do.

And the Spirit of God came upon him, and opened the eyes of his mind, and he prophesied about Israel. And he foretold their prosperity, by comparing them to well-watered gardens by the water side, and to a flourishing tree which grew tall with large leaves at the top, and that without a gardener's aid, the providence of God alone making it grow; and also to cedar trees, which were famous for height and grandeur.

He said also, that Israel should pour water out of his buckets, by which he meant again, that the nation should flourish, as this was a way of watering the land to make its fruits grow; and he spoke of the chief of Israel becoming higher and greater than Agag the king of the Amalekites, who was then one of the greatest kings in the world. And he further spoke as before, about their overcoming their enemies, like as a lion overcomes his prey.

Then Balak could no longer contain his anger, "and he smote his hands together;" and he "said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these last three times." And be sent Balaam away. Balaam, however, stopped to go on with his prophecy, and he foretold the distant conquest of Moab and Edom, and the ruin of Amalek, and the wasting of the Kenites, and other great events that should take place, and did happen in after times, as God had told him.

Thus you see how God protected Israel from the malice and craft of their enemies, and would not suffer them to receive any harm.

Various Events a little before the Death of Moses.
NUMB. XXV.—XXXVI.

We shall now pass on to the end of Numbers, and merely glance, as we pass, at what the other chapters contain.

In the twenty-fifth, we find Israel drawn aside to commit idolatry with the Moabites.

And God ordered Moses to hang all the ringleaders, and the judges to slay all the rest of the offenders. And a plague broke out in the camp, and slew twenty-four thousand persons. These probably had some hand in the business, by consenting or counselling the other offenders, and so God visited them also.

Some think there is reason to believe that Balaam advised the Moabites to propose marriages with the Israelites, and as it was against the command of God that such marriages should take place, the Israelites that were guilty of breaking his commandment, did very wickedly. And this was a wise command; for, supposing your parents were divided in opinion, and one worshipped God, and the other were stupid enough to worship that ugly thing worshipped by the Hindoos,-of which a representation has been given in treating on the thirty-first chapter of Genesis,-perhaps you would be in danger of being taught to worship it too, and so you would be ruined by God's displeasure, as well as your parents. Besides, those that love God truly, can never agree to live all their days with those that show they hate him.

One Zimri, the son of a chief, had, as some think, married a Midianitish princess, who worshipped the false gods of Moab, and he had the audacity to take her to his tent in the presence of the people, who were weeping before God on account of the sins which their brethren had committed.

Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, and grandson of Aaron, seeing this audacious act of breaking God's law, instantly acted as magistrate on this occasion, and put God's commandment into execution, by putting the criminal and the princess to death. As this was not an act of private revenge, which would have been murder, but zeal for God's glory, and in obedience to his law, God was pleased with Phinehas, and promised to bless him for what he had done; and, on account of it, he stayed the plague.

As God had punished the Israelites, he visited also the Midianites, and commanded Moses to smite them, that they might not any more lead Israel astray into idolatry.

And God ordered Moses and Eleazar to number the people of Israel; and they found that they were "six hundred thousand, and a thousand seven hundred and thirty," that is, as we should say, six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty, who were twenty years old and upwards, all fit for war, besides twenty-three thousand Levites for the service of the Temple.

"But among these, there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai: for the Lord had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun."

See how God fulfils his threatenings against sinners. You remember that all those that were numbered at Mount Sinai, the first year after Israel came out of Egypt, rebelled against God; and he declared that they should wander in the wilderness, but never enter Canaan, and so it came to pass. O then let us obey his commands, lest he swear in his wrath that we shall never enter into his rest.

This numbering is related in the twenty-sixth chapter.

In the twenty-seventh, we have an account of the five daughters of Zelophehad, whose father having died in the wilderness, and left no son, were unprovided for in the promised land of Canaan, and they asked permission to take his share, that his name might not be blotted out, and forgotten; and in so doing they showed that they firmly believed in what God had said by his servants-that he would give Canaan to Israel. So God granted them their request; and ever after it was a law in Israel, that if a man died and had no son, then his daughter came in for the inheritance.

In this chapter we also learn that God told Moses to prepare for death. He was to go up to "Mount Abarim and see the land," which God had given to Israel, but he was never to enter it, for you remember that he