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generations as ye [are] so shall the stranger be before the 16 LORD. One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.

17 18 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye cóme 19 into the land whither I bring you, Then it shall be that when ye eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up an heave of20 fering unto the LORD. Ye shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough [for] an heave offering: as [ye do] the heave offering of the threshing floor, so shall ye heave it, as an acknowledgment of its being his property, and to express gratitude 21 for your daily bread. Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD an heave offering in your generations.

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And if ye, that is, the whole congregation, have erred in any thing relating to my worship, through ignorance, and have not observed all these commandments which the LORD hath 23 spoken unto Moses, [Even] all that the LORD hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the LORD commanded [Moses,] and henceforward among your genera24 tions; Then it shall be, if [aught] be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the LORD, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid of 25 the goats for a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it [is] ignorance and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their ig 26 norance: And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among 27 them; seeing all the people [were] in ignorance. And if

any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat 28 of the first year for a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the LORD to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him.

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Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, [both for] him that is born among the children of Is rael, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.

But the soul that doeth [aught] presumptuously, with an high hand, [whether he be] born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD, sets God at defiance, as if he were not worthy to be regarded, or not able to punish transgressors; 31 and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Be

It was according to this law that Hezekiah offered sacrifices for the transgressions of his father's reign, and Eara for the sins of the captivity.

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cause he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; if he did if openly, by the hand of justice; if secretly, by the hand of God of which there follows an awful instance; his iniquity [shall be] upon him.

And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day; he knew it was the sabbath, perhaps had been warned and admon33 ished of it, but in vain. And they that found him gathering sticks to burn or sell, brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation, that is, the rulers of the congregation, 34 who represented and governed the whole. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him, whether this case were within those laws, Exodus xxxi. 14. xxxv. 2. or what death he should die. Upon this Moses 35 went into the tabernacle to inquire; And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death all the congregation shall stone him with stones, without the camp, because he hath presumptuously sinned, despised my authority, and 36 put contempt upon my law. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses; all the congregation joined it, to make them cautious and watchful, and to show their zeal for their Creator and his larvs.

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37 38 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a rib39 and of blue to fasten it on. And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; that as often as ye see them ye may be reminded of your relation to God, and obligation to keep all his laws; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, any superstitious inventions and devices of your own in my worship, after which ye use to go a 40 whoring, as in the case of the golden calf, Te. That ye may

remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God, separate from others, and wholly devoted to me.* 41 I [am] the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I [am] the LORD your God.

In our Lord's time they made these fringes very large, and wrote scraps of the law upon them, but yet neglected to obey him. We have nothing to do with this law; if eur garments are decent, and according to our rank, it is all God requires of us,

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REFLECTIONS.

ET us learn hence, to make the rules and command not sin through ignorance, which is displeasing to God, and will certainly incur censure and punishment, if that ignorance be our fault, Let his word dwell in us richly, and be as familiar to us as our garments, or any particular ornament is. We have need of frequent hints and mementos of the importance of religion, that we may be guided by God's laws, in things both great and small. Our delight should be in the law of the Lord, and in that law let us meditate day and night.

2. How earnestly should we pray to be kept from presumptuous sins, that is, wilful, deliberate sins: these are great aggravations of guilt. Let us earnestly pray that all those instances in which we have wickedly departed from God, may be forgiven us ; let us guard against them for time to come; and walk circumspectly, with holy caution; not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time. It should be our daily prayer, Lord, keep back thy servants from presumptuous sins.

3. We should learn to pay great honour to God's sabbaths, and do no unnecessary work therein. The law of the sabbath is of perpetual obligation, it is of a moral nature; and the observance of it is enforced by the example of Christ and his apostles. Remember it to keep it holy. Let us avoid unnecessary labour ourselves, and not put our domestics upon any service that may conveniently be omitted. We see that God is jealous for his honour and the observance of his sabbaths; and though magistrates may neglect to put the wise laws of our country into execu tion against profaners of his day, yet God will not hold those guiltless who pursue business or pleasure therein. May we ever remember this awful story, and take warning by it, that we do not sin presumptuously; if we do, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a fearful looking for of judgment, that shall devour us.

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CHAP. XVI.

The rebellion of Korah, and his punishment."

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WOW Korah the son of Izhar,† the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab,

Seneca says, that Egypt was a country, whose inhabitants were very apt to censure and find fault with their governors, were they ever so innocent and good.' One would think the Israelites had learned their disposition by living among them so long. We have many instances of this in the history of Moses, but none more remarkable than what is contained in this chapter.

Izhar was brother to Amram, the father of Moses and Aaron, so that Korah, the leader of this rebellion, was their first cousin.

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and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took [men :*] 2 And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children

of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, fa3 mous in the congregation, men of renown :† And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, [Ye take] too much upon you, seeing all the congregation [are] holy, every one of them, and the LORD [is] among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

And when Moses heard [it,] he fell upon his face in prayer to God for direction, who accordingly ordered what follows: 5 And he spake unto Korah, and unto all his company, saying, Even tomorrow (giving them time to bethink themselves and repent) the LORD will show who [are] his, and [who is] holy, separated to the priest's office; and will cause [him] to come near unto him even [him] whom he hath chosen will be cause to come near unto him, and declare in some extraordinary manner that it belongs to him only to minister before him 6 as priest. This do; Take your censers, Korah, and all his 7 company; And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD tomorrow; act as priests: and it shall be [that] the man whom the LORD doth choose, or declare by some manifest sign that he chooses and likes, he [shall be] holy, owned as priest: [ye take] too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.||

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And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons 9 of Levi: [Seemeth it but] a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, nearer than the other tribes, though not so nigh as the priests, to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congrega10 tion to minister unto them? And he hath brought thee, Korah, near [to him,] and all thy brethren the sons of Levi, with thee: God hath given you this great honour, and will it not 11 satisfy you? and seek ye the priesthood also? For which cause [both] thou and all thy company [are] gathered together against the LORD: and what [is] Aaron that ye murmur

The original is singular, and refers to Korah, he stirred up all the rest; so Jude called it the gainsaying of Korah.

+ The common people of Israel only used to be engaged in these mutinies; but here the great men and wise men joined; which was more dangerous, and astonishing.

They were angry that the priesthood was confined to the family of Aaron; they thought Moses had done this of himself, out of affection to Aaron, and that it was a scheme between them to engross all power in church and state to themselves. Korah thought he had as good a right to it as Aaron, being a Levite of the same family. The Reubenites, who were descended from the eldest branch of Jacob's family, thought they had as good a right to the government as Moses. All were displeased, and they flattered the people by telling them they were all holy, and that the Lord was among them; therefore they might offer their own sacrifices, and govern themselves without Moses and Aaron.

Thus Moses retorts the blame upon themselves, which they had unjustly laid upon him, v.3.

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against him? he hath done nothing herein, but what he had authority for from God. Thus he expostulated with Korah and his company, and would have done so with the Reubenites also, but they would not come.

And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of 13 Eliab which said, We will not come up : [Is it] a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey,* to kill us in the wilderness, except thou 14 make thyself altogether a prince over us? Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards, according to promise: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men, blind us with fair promises, without any performance? Or, wouldst thou lead us about like blind men, sometimes this way, and sometimes another? Thou must think we are blind not to see through 15 such imposture; we will not come up. And Moses was very wroth at this impudent message, and said unto the LORD, Respect not thou their offering, give them some manifest token of thy dislike of it! 1 have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them; I have not done them the least injury, but on the contrary, have done them many good offices. This was the rebellion, and this the cause of it; and it continued, notwithstanding all that Moses did to quell it.

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And Moses said unto Korah,, Be thou and all thy company before the LORD, thou, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow; though Aaron has been used to burn incense in the tabernacle, he shall now stand before it on a level with the rest of the candidates. 17 And take every man his censer, and put incense in them, and bring ye before the LORD every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each [of you] his censer; if you think you have as good a right to it as he, come 18 and act as priests. And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and 19 Aaron, as rivals of Aaron the priest of the Lord. And Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation too many of them were ready to join him; they seemed confident of success, and perhaps designed to fall on Moses and Aaron, and destroy them; and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the con20 gregation. And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, 21 saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, 22 that I may consume them in a moment. And they, that is, Moses and Aaron, fell upon their faces, to deprecate this wrath, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, their Creator, (Zech. xii. 1. Heb. xii. 9.) preserver and governor, (Job

They called Egypt so, to ridicule the promise of God and Moses concerning Canaan

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