ing the red heifer seems to be closely connected with the preceding. "Nine red heifers have been sacrificed, between the original delivering of this precept, and the desolation of the second temple. Our master Moses sacrificed the first: Ezra offered up the second: and seven more were slain during the period which elapsed from the time of Ezra to the destruction of the temple: the tenth king Messiah himself will sacrifice : by his speedy manifestation he will cause great joy. Amen, may he come quickly." It is almost superfluous to observe that the red heifer is a type of Christ." Christian Observer, vol. i. p. 85. No. 732.-xix. 2. Upon which never came yoke.] According to the common consent of mankind, those creatures which had been used became unfit to be offered to God. Hence Diomed promises Pallas a cow of a year old, ην επω υπό ζυγον ηγαγεν ανηρ. Jl. K. which no man hitherto had brought under the yoke, See more in Bochart Hieroz. p. i. 1. 2. сар. 33. No. 733.—xix. 11. He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.] We meet with a remarkable account of the notions of certain modern heathens concerning pollution by the dead, and of their ceremonies respecting it, in Captain Cook's Third Voyage, vol. i. p. 305. Speaking of a walk he took in Tongataboo, one of the Friendly Islands in the Pacific Ocean, he says,. "In this walk we met with about half a dozen women in one place at supper. Two of the company, I observed, being fed by the others, on our asking the reason, they said, taboo mattee. On further enquiry we found, that one of them had, two months before, washed the dead corpse of a chief, and that on this account she was not to handle any food for five months. The other had performed the same office to the corpse of another person of inferior rank, and was now under the same restriction, but not for so long a time. At another place, hard by, we saw another woman fed, and we learnt that she had assisted in washing the corpse of the above-mentioned chief." "At the expiration of the time the interdicted person washes herself in one of their baths, which are dirty holes, for the most part of brackish water, (compare Numb. xix. 19.) she then waits upon the king, and, after making her obeisance in the usual way, lays hold of his foot, and applies it to her breast, shoulders, and other parts of her body. He then embraces her upon each shoulder, after which she retires, purified from her uncleanness." Vol. i. p. 410. No. 734.-xxii. 6. Come now therefore, I pray thee, and curse me this people.] An opinion prevailed both in those days, and in after ages, that some men had a power by the help of their gods to devote not only particular persons, but whole armies, to destruction. This they are said to have done, sometimes by words of imprecation; of which there was a set form among some people, which Æschines calls digicoμɛvyv apav, the determinate curse. Sometimes they also offered sacrifices, and used certain rites and ceremonies, with solemn charms. A famous instance of this we find in the life of Crassus; where Plutarch tells us, that Atticus, tribune of the people, made a fire at the gate, out of which Crassus was to march to the war against the Parthians; into which he threw certain things to make a fume, and offered sacrifices to the most angry gods, with horrid imprecations upon him: these, he says, accord ing to ancient tradition had such a power, that no man who was loaded with them could avoid being undone, No. 735.-xxii. 31. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way.] There are several instances to be found both in the scriptures and in profane authors, where the eyes have been opened by a divine power to perceive that which they could not see by mere natural discernment. Thus the eyes of Hagar were opened, that she might see the fountain, Gen. xxi. 19. Homer also presents us with an example of this kind. Minerva says to Diomed, Yet more, from mortal mists I purge thy eyes, Il. v. 164. POPE. And in Virgil, Venus performs the same office to Æneas, and shews him the gods who were engaged in the destruction of Troy. Aspice; namque omnem, quæ nunc obducta tuenti En. ii. 604. Now cast your eyes around: while I dissolve DRYDEN. Milton seems likewise to have imitated this, when he makes Michael open Adam's eyes to see the future revolutions of the world and the fortunes of his posterity. -then purg'd with euphrasy and rue The visual nerve, for he had much to see, Paradise Lost, b. xi. 414. No. 736.-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. Terna tibi hæc primum triplici diversa colore VIRG. Eclog. viii. 73. Around his waxen image first I wind DRYDEN. No. 737.-xxiii. 23. What hath God wrought!] When the Baron du Tott was endeavouring to make the Turks better gunners, for want of which they suf fered such great losses in the war with the Russians which terminated in 1774, he was forced by them, very contrary to his wish, to fire a cannon at a certain mark. Upon redoubled solicitations he was prevailed on to point the piece, and was not less surprised than those around him to see the bullet hit the piquet in the centre of the butt. The cry Machalla! resounded on all sides. (Mem. vol. ii. part 3. p. 96.) At the bottom of the page is this note: Machalla! what God has done! an expression of the greatest admiration. There is a singular coincidence between this and the exclamation of Balaam. HARMER, vol. iv. p. 462. No. 738.-xxiv. 21. Thou puttest thy nest in a rock.] When Balaam delivered before Balak his predictions respecting the fate that awaited the nations which he then particularized, he says of the Kenites, Strong is thy dwelling, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock. Alluding herein to that princely bird the eagle, which not only delights in soaring to the loftiest heights, but chooses the highest rocks and most elevated mountains as the most desirable situations for erecting her nests. The me taphor signifies security. See Hab. ii. 9. Obad, iv. GILLINGWATER MS. No. 739.-xxv. 8. And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman.] The zeal of Phinehas on this particular occasion received the divine approbation, both in personal commendation and public deliverance. Similar impunity with respect to shedding of blood was given by the lawgivers of other nations: Pausanias relates that Draco the Athenian legislator granted impunity to any body that took revenge upon an adulterer. Such also was the institution of Solon, "If any one seize an adulterer, let him use him as he pleases." Thus Eratosthenes answered a person who begged his life after he had injured his bed, "It is not I who slay thee, but the law of thy country." But it was in the power of the injured person to take a pecuniary mulct by way of atonement: for thus Eratosthenes speaks in Lysias, "he entreated me not to take his life, but exact a sum of money." No. 740.-xxvi. 55. The land shall be divided by lot.] This appears to have been a very ancient method of dividing land. It was not only adopted in the present instance in the distribution of a whole country, but was commonly resorted to in order to apportion particular inheritances. See Hesiod, b. i. 55. Thus also in Homer, Ulysses is made to say, Sprung of a hand-maid from a bought embrace, |