to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit. Cp. chap. 26, 53-55. V. 55. But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, namely, by uprooting them entirely, then it shall come to pass that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, causing them just as sharp pains as the sharpest thorns would to the most delicate parts of the human body, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell,

cause them oppression and tribulation. V. 56. Moreover, it shall come to pass that I shall do unto you as I thought to do unto them, namely, drive them out of the land and destroy them. This warning was repeated by Joshua, Josh. 23, 13, and was fulfilled in the history of both Israel and Judah. It is the will of God to this day that Christians, although living in the midst of the godless children of the world, should keep themselves altogether uncontaminated of the world.

Concerning the Division of Canaan. THE BOUNDARIES OF CANAAN. - V. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, v. 2. Command the children of Israel and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan, (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts [boundaries] thereof, that is, the land of your inheritance, the Land of Promise, shall have the following boundaries,) v. 3. then your south quarter, the general southern boundary, shall be from the Wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, in the southeastern corner, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the Salt Sea eastward, the extreme southeastern corner of the Dead Sea; v. 4. and your border shall turn from the south, that is, bend southwards in Israel's favor, to the ascent of Akrabbim, the mountains on the northeastern boundary of Edom, and pass on to Zin, along the border of the desert; and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadesh-barnea, to include this station, and shall go on to Hazar-addar, and pass on to Azmon, farther toward the east; v. 5. and the border shall fetch a compass (turn toward) from Azmon unto the river of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea, for the brook of Egypt would form the boundary on the southwest, 1 Kings 8, 65; 2 Kings 24, 7. V. 6. And as for the western border, ye shall even have the Great Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, for a border; this shall be your west border. V.7. And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you Mount Hor; this mountain, probably in the Anti-Lebanon range, was to determine the extent of the country toward the north. V. 8. From Mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath, on the boundary of the kingdom of that name, in the valley of the Orontes, 2 Kings 14, 25; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad, toward the northeast; v. 9. and the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazar-enan, a village noted for its abundant springs, between

Palmyra and Damascus; this shall be your north border. V. 10. And ye shall point out your east border from Hazar-enan to Shepham; v. 11. and the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain, in the borders of the land of Hamath, 2 Kings 23, 33; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the side, literally, "the shoulder," of the Sea of Chinnereth, later called the Sea of Galilee, eastward, thus striking this body of water on the northeastern shore; v. 12. and the border, skirting the lake on the eastern side, shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the Salt Sea, the Dead Sea, both the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan thus being included within the boundary of Canaan proper. This shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about. "This land of Canaan was still now to be distributed by lot, as the land of the inheritance in the narrower and stricter sense. Still, the inheritance of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, the east Jordan region, was included. For here it treats specially of that part of the inheritance which was yet to be conquered and distributed." (Lange.) V. 13. And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which the Lord commanded to give unto the nine tribes and to the half tribe; v. 14. for the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers have received their inheritance, to be definitely assigned to them after they had fulfilled the condition which they had accepted, chap. 32, 28-33, and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance. V. 15. The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan, near Jericho eastward, toward the sun-rising, this expression being used to denote the entire kingdom of the Amorites, as well as Bashan and Gilead. Every new message of the Lord made the possession of the land of Canaan surer in the minds of the people, and was intended to inspire them with greater eagerness to possess their inheritance.

THE PRINCES IN CHARGE OF THE DIVISION. V. 16. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, v. 17. These are the names of the men which shall divide the land unto you, the men in charge of the lot-casting which should determine the location of each individual tribe: Eleazar, the priest, and Joshua, the son of Nun. V. 18. And ye shall take one prince of every tribe to divide the land by inheritance. V. 19. And the names of the men are these: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. V. 20. And of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel, the son of Ammihud. V. 21. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad, the son of Chislon. V. 22. And the prince of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki, the son of Jogli. V. 23. The prince of the children of Joseph, for the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel, the son of Ephod. V. 24. And the prince of the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel, the son of Shiphtan. V. 25. And the prince of the tribe of the

children of Zebulun, Elizaphan, the son of Parnach. V. 26. And the prince of the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel, the son of Azzan. V. 27. And the prince of the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud, the son of Shelomi. V. 28. And the prince of the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel, the son of Ammihud. V. 29. These are they whom the Lord commanded to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel in the land of Canaan. Of these princes only Caleb is mentioned elsewhere. The list of tribes in the order named corresponds, with some exceptions, to the situation of the territory which the tribes received in Canaan, reckoning from the south to the north. It should be remembered also here that the position of the several inheritances was determined by lot; but their dimensions were proportioned to the numerical size of the tribes to which they fell, the largest tribe getting the most territory. The care of the covenant God for the people whom He had chosen appears throughout.

The Cities of the Levites and the Cities of Refuge.

THE CITIES OF THE LEVITES. — V. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses in the Plains of Moab by Jordan, near Jericho, saying, v. 2. Command the children of Israel that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in, for the Levites, as a tribe, received no special territory in the land of Canaan, chap. 18, 20. 23; and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them, meadows, pasture-land for their herds and flocks, fields which could not be sold, but remained the permanent and inalienable property of the Levites, Lev. 25, 34.

This does not hold true of the cities themselves, for in these it was only the houses that were given to the Levites, in regard to which the Lord had provided that they could be redeemed at any time after being sold and should always be returned to the original owners or their heirs in the Year of Jubilee, Lev. 25, 32. 33. V. 3. And the cities shall they have to dwell in; and the suburbs, the meadows, the pasture-land, of them shall be for their cattle and for their goods and for all their beasts. V. 4. And the suburbs of the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites shall reach from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about, that is, measuring directly from the city wall in a straight line. V. 5. And ye shall measure from without the city, from its wall or boundary, on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north

side two thousand cubits; and the city shall be in the midst, and the place occupied by it should not enter into the calculations; this shall be to them the suburbs of the cities. V. 6. And among the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites there shall be six cities for refuge, which ye shall appoint for the manslayer, to the man who unintentionally takes his neighbor's life, that he may flee thither; and to them ye shall add forty and two cities, making a total of fortyeight. V. 7. So all the cities which ye shall give to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities; them shall ye give with their suburbs. V. 8. And the cities which ye shall give shall be of the possession of the children of Israel, selected from the territory apportioned to the tribes; from them that have many ye shall give many; but from them that have few ye shall give few; every one shall give of his cities unto the Levites according to his inheritance which he inheriteth. As the plan worked out afterward, Josh. 21, there were ten cities of the Levites in the country east of the Jordan and thirty-eight in Canaan proper. By living in the midst of all the tribes, the Levites were to be an example to the entire nation, continually reminding them of their divine call and of the covenant of Jehovah, so that the fear of the Lord might be maintained in Israel.

REGULATIONS CONCERNING THE CITIES OF REFUGE. V. 9. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, v. 10. Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When ye be come over Jordan into the land of Canaan, v. 11. then ye shall appoint you

cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the slayer may flee thither which killeth any person at unawares, by error, inadvert. ently, without premeditation or malice. V. 12. And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger (of blood), that the manslayer die not until he stand before the congregation in judgment and be able to clear himself of the charge of malicious murder. V. 13. And of these cities which ye shall give six cities shall ye have for refuge. V. 14. Ye shall give three cities on this side Jordan, in the territory of the two and one half tribes, and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan, which shall be cities of refuge. V. 15. These six cities shall be a refuge, both for the children of Israel and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that every one that killeth any person unawares, unintentionally, may flee thither. These regulations are still further expanded in Deut. 19, 1-13, especially with regard to the avenger of blood, for so the nearest relative of any person to whom an injustice had been done was called. By God's permission such a person was empowered to revenge a wrong, even to the extent of putting a slayer to death, the present precept regulating the custom. There follow regulations concerning the legal process in the case of manslaughter. V. 16. And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. V. 17. And if he smite him with throwing a stone, with a stone large enough to fill the hand, and therefore presumably heavy enough to cause death, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. V. 18. Or if he smite him with an handweapon of wood, one whose holding requires the full size of the hand, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. V. 19. The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer; when he meeteth him, he shall slay him. In these three cases, where a heavy iron instrument, an ax or hammer, a large stone, or a heavy wooden tool or cudgel was used in striking down the neighbor, the evidence that he deliberately took the neighbor's life was considered conclusive from the outset. V. 20. But if he thrust him of hatred, or hurl at him by laying of wait, with deliberate intent, that he die, v. 21. or in enmity smite him with his hand that he die, he that smote him shall surely be put to death; for he is a murderer; the revenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him, the elders of the city of refuge in that case being obliged to deliver the murderer to the avenger of blood, Deut. 19, 11. 12. V. 22. But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, without a previous quarrel, or have cast upon him anything without

laying of wait, without malicious intention, v. 23. or with any stone wherewith a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him that he die, as might happen, for instance, during the building of a house, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm, had absolutely no intention of hurting him, v. 24. then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments, according to the regulations as contained in this chapter; v. 25. and the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, save his life by preventing his execution by the hand of the revenger, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, grant him safe-conduct to this haven of safety, whither he was filed, for the trial, of course, took place in his own city; and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest which was anointed with the holy oil, the incumbent of the office at the time of the trial. The death of the high priest thus released him from his banishment. V. 26. But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whither he was fled, where he enjoyed the protection of the Levites under the provisions of this law, v. 27. and the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer, he (the revenger) shall not be guilty of blood, shall not be considered a murderer, v. 28. because he (the slayer) should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession, to his own inheritance in the midst of his tribe, since his life was now safeguarded by the Law of God. V. 29. So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings, these precepts belonged to the ordinances which should remain in power as long as the nation of Israel endured. V. 30. Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses, their testimony being needed to convict him; but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. Where the life of a person was in jeopardy, the testimony of a single person, no matter how trustworthy he might be otherwise, should not be deemed sufficient for conviction. Cp. Deut. 17, 6; 19, 15. V. 31. Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death, he could not save his life by paying a sum of money as ransom; but he shall be surely put to death. V. 32. And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is filed to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the

priest; no payment of money should procure for him a release from his banishment. V. 33. So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are, by sparing the life of a murderer, due to false sentiment or the acceptance of bribe money; for blood, it defileth the land, namely, that shed in wilful murder; and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it, Gen. 9, 6; only by this expiation is the justice of God satisfied. V. 34. Defile

not, therefore, the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell; for I, the Lord, dwell among the children of Israel, and every desecration of the land would call forth His avenging justice, Lev. 18, 25. Although this special precept belongs to the Levitical Law of the Old Testament, it would be well for legislative bodies and executives, in our country especially, to lay aside the false sentimentalism which spares the lives of murderers and has proved itself a curse to the nation.

Of the Inheritance of Daughters. THE OBJECTION RAISED. — V. 1. And the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near and spake before Moses and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, voicing an objection which had come to them with regard to a recent decision; v. 2. and they said, The Lord commanded my lord (Moses) to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel; and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad, our brother, that is, of the member of their tribe, unto his daughters. V. 3. And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance, according to the provision as it now stood, be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received; shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance. The consequence, as they saw it, would be that the territory of the several tribes would not remain intact and that a general confusion would result. V. 4. And when the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance, that of Zelophehad's daughters, be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received, by the fact of their marriage; so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers. Until the Year of Jubilee there was always a possibility of a childless marriage or of the sale of the property to members of the tribe of Manasseh; but after the Year of Jubilee the last chance would be gone, and relief would no longer be possible.

SO

THE REGULATION. V. 5. And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the Lord, which he had meanwhile received, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well. V. 6. This is the thing which the Lord doth command con

cerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry, become wives, to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry, that was the restriction to which they were bound. Moreover, this was to be a general rule. V.7. So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe, not be transferred by marriages of this kind; for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers, to avoid confusion. V. 8. And every daughter that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, in the form of land or real estate, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers. V. 9. Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance. V. 10. Even as the Lord commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad; v. 11. for Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father's brothers' sons, to their cousins, unless the Hebrew term is used in the wider sense. V. 12. And they were married into the families, and thus also by marriage became members of the families, of the sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father. V. 13. These are the commandments and the judgments, the ordinances or statutes, which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the Plains of Moab by Jordan, near Jericho. Thus Moses put his signature to the lawgiving of the Plains of Moab, "though without in any way implying that the explanation, further development, and hortatory enforcement of the Law and its statutes and judgments, which follow in Deuteronomy, are not of Mosaic origin." (Keil.)

The name which has been given to this last of the five books of Moses characterizes its contents as "the second giving of the Law," or "the repetition of the Law," since the greater part of the book is devoted to the repetition, explanation, and inculcation of the Law as contained in the preceding books. It is a review of the commandments and statutes which the Lord had given to His people. The book contains the last discourses of Moses, the man of God, addressed to the children of Israel. Before being gathered to his people, as the Lord had said in telling him of his coming death, he once more reminds the children of Israel of all the mercies, ordinances, and promises of God. The time is the eleventh month of the fortieth year after the departure from Egypt; the place is the encampment of Israel on the east side of Jordan, opposite Jericho, in the Plains of Moab. Here the great prophet makes his closing appeal to those whom he had led and formed into a nation, asking them to keep inviolate the covenant of the Lord and to walk in His ways at all times. Moses eagerly desires the happiness of his people. "Oh, that there were such an heart in them that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!" Chap. 5, 29. The last three sections of the book, which contain the announcement of the death of Moses, his last blessing, and the narrative of his death, were probably added to Deuteronomy by the inspired author of the Book of Joshua.

"The forty years of wandering are at an end. The children of Israel are in sight of the Promised Land. Moses recognizes the fact that his leadership is about to end, but that the covenant is to abide. A crisis has come in the affairs of the nation, and a review of Israel's history and a restatement of God's laws must be made. A new generation had grown up, which had not heard the original promulgation of the Law at Sinai. A new country was before the nation. This country was devoted to an idolatrous worship of the most seductive kind. On every high hill and in every grove this worship was carried on. An unflinching devotion to God was necessary to resist this alluring worship, which was more to be dreaded than an armed resistance. Moses endeavors to impress his hearers with the advantages of obedience and the disadvantages of disobedience to God's Law." (Sell.)

The book, as indicated above, may be divided into two unequal divisions. In the first division, which contains the farewell addresses of Moses, we have his introductory address, the repetition and inculcation of the Law, and the announcement of blessing and curse. The second division, embracing the last four chapters, contains the account of the farewell of Moses, of his last hymn, blessing, with its Messianic contents, and death.1)

1) Concordia Bible Class, Feb., 1919, 28. 29; Fuerbringer, Einleitung in das Alte Testament, 26.

A Review of the Journey from Sinai to Kadesh.

THE INTRODUCTION. - V. 1. These be the words, the addresses, which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the semiarid steppes, in the plain over against the Red Sea, after whose passage they had entered into the wilderness, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. The stations of the desert were just barely behind the children of Israel, and the impression of the wilderness still prevailed. The geographic reference at this point recalls the entire journey and offers a picture of the entire country traversed, as it extended from the Red Sea to the northern boundary of the Wilderness of Paran, and from there to the western boundary of Edom and Moabitis. V. 2. (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb, or Sinai, where the Law was given, by the way of Mount Seir, along

V.3.

its foothills and leading to its highest elevation, unto Kadesh-barnea, and so long it had taken the people upon their first trip.) And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them, in agreement with all the precepts and ordinances which had been given to him during all the years of the desert journey; v. 4. after he had slain Sihon, the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth (and) in Edrei, the two names either being those of his capital cities, or Edrei was located in the fertile region of Ashtaroth. It was at this time, when the defeat of the two mightiest kings east of the Jordan served as a guarantee to the children of Israel for the further fulfilment of God's promises, that Moses received