LESSON XI.

THE ISRAELITES IN THE WILDERNESS.

Q. While encamped in the wilderness, for what purpose did Moses send twelve men before him into Canaan ?

A. To spy out the land; that is, to get information respecting the country, and its inhabitants, productions, and means of defence. Num. xiii. 17-20. Q. What report did the spies bring back?

A. They reported that it was a land flowing with milk and honey, and they brought back a very large bunch of grapes as a specimen of its fruits. Num. xiii. 21-27.

Q. What did they say of the people?

A. The people, they said, were strong, and the cities walled and very great; moreover, they added, "We saw there giants, the sons of Anak, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." Num. xiii. 28–33.

Q. Wherein did Joshua and Caleb's report differ from that of the others?

A. "Let us go up at once and possess the land, for we are well able to overcome it." Num. xiii. 30; xiv. 6, 7.

Q. What effect did their report have on the Israelites?

A. The people were very much discouraged, and

murmured against Moses and Aaron, and even proposed to one another to appoint a new leader, and return to Egypt. Num. xiv. 1–4.

Q. What penalty was proclaimed as the one to which the Israelites should be subjected, because of their unworthiness?

A. Moses was commanded to say to them that all of them, from twenty years old and upward, for their murmurings against the Lord, should die in the wilderness, and not come into the promised land, except only Caleb and Joshua. Num. xiv. 26-35.

Q. What would this history seem to imply respecting the character of the Israelites.

A. That their slavery in Egypt, and their idolatrous

tendencies, made them unfit to become an independent nation among the warlike and idolatrous tribes of Canaan?

Q. Why does it appear that they were detained in the desert?

A. To try them and accustom them to the service of Jehovah, until a new generation should arise, better prepared to be established among the nations of Canaan. Deut. viii. 2, 3.

Q. When Moses numbered the people in the plains of Moab, who were left of those numbered forty years before in the wilderness of Sinai ?

A. There was not a man of them left of those

whom Moses and Aaron numbered in the wilder

ness of Sinai, except Caleb and Joshua. Num. xxvi. 63-65.

Q. Why was not Moses permitted to enter the promised land?

A. Because he rebelled against the commandment

of the Lord, in the desert of Zin, where he manifested impatience, and perhaps a want of faith. Num. xxvii. 12 - 14.

Q. Whither was he sent to see it?

A. Unto the Mount Abarim, called also Nebo and Pisgah. Abarim is probably the name of the range. Num. xxvii. 12.

Q. Whom was he directed to appoint as his successor?

A. Joshua, the son of Nun. Num. xxvii. 18-23. Q. After repeating in Deuteronomy the ten commandments, what great truth did he first incul

cate?

A. "

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." Deut. vi. 3, 5.

Q. What were they to teach to their children? A. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Deut. vi. 5–9.

Q. What does he say of their dependence on God, and their duty?

A. "Thou shalt keep the commandments of the

Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him." Deut. viii. 5-10.

Q. Of what does he bid them to beware?

A. "Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God,

in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day." Deut. viii. 11 – 18.

Q. What would befall them if they were unfaithful? A. “If thou forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, ye shall surely perish." Deut. viii. 19, 20.

Q. In giving the Jews the land of Canaan, was it because of any desert of theirs?

A. "Not for thy righteousness dost thou go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Deut. ix. 5.

Q. What were the blessing and the curse set before the Israelites ?

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A. "A blessing if ye obey the commandments of the Lord God, and a curse if your will not obey, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods." Deut. xi. 26-29.

Q. In foreseeing the appointment of a king, what directions did he give?

A. That they should appoint him whom the Lord should choose. Deut. xvii. 14-20.

Q. Of what race was he to be?

A. One from their own nation, and not a stranger. Deut. xvii. 15.

Q. Of what book was he to take a copy?

A. A copy of the Law of Moses, "out of that which

is before the priests and Levites." Deut. xvii. 18. Q. What use was he to make of it?

A." He shall read therein all the days of his life,

that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this Law and these statutes to do them." Deut. xvii. 19.

Q. Whom did Moses direct to lead the Israelites over Jordan, and what charge did he give to him? A. Joshua. He said to him, "Be strong and of a good courage, for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them." Deut. xxxi. 7.

Q. Whom did Moses bless before his death? A. The children of Israel, the heads of the people and the tribes. Deut. xxxiii. 1.

Q. On leaving the plains of Moab, what mountain did he ascend?

A. The mountain of Nebo, or Pisgah. Deut. xxxiv. 1. Q. What was there shown to him?

A. He had a general view of the territories which

were to be the inheritance of his countrymen, from the plain of Jericho, which lay at his feet, to the utmost sea, which bounded the prospect to the west. Deut. xxxiv. 1-4.

Q. Where did Moses die?