come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome to you."

And the Lord sent the people the flesh which they had lusted for, to be a punishment to them. He sent forth a wind, and brought birds, called quails, and made great numbers of them to fall upon the ground around the camp.

And all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, the people gathered the quails, and ate them. And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, the Lord sent a great plague among them, and very many of them died.

And they buried the people that lusted in that place. And God gave a name to that place, to remind the children of Israel of their sin, and its punishment. God called it the grave of lust (Kibroth-hattaavah).

Numbers x. 11, 12; xi.

To lust, is to wish for and eagerly desire a thing.

To loathe, is to dislike a thing very much, and turn from it. A thing is loathsome to us when we loathe or dislike it.

Chapter LXIII.

THE ARRIVAL OF GOD'S PEOPLE AT THE LAND OF

PROMISE.

Ar last the children of Israel drew near to the land of Canaan, the promised land.

And the children of Israel encamped near the land of Canaan, at a place called Kadesh-barnea.

Then God commanded Moses to choose twelve men, one man from each of the twelve tribes, that they might go and search the land of Canaan. Joshua was chosen out of his tribe, the tribe of Ephraim, and Caleb was the name of the man who was chosen out of the tribe of Judah.

Then Moses sent Joshua and Caleb, and the other ten, to spy out the land of Canaan. He told them to go into the land, and to see whether the people who dwelt in it were strong or weak, few or many, and what the land was, whether rich or poor, and whether there was much wood and fruit in it. When they had searched the land, they

were to come back, and tell the people what they had seen.

So the twelve men went and searched the land forty days. And after forty days they returned, and brought back with them some of the fruit of the land, some figs and other fruits, and a cluster of grapes so large, that they carried it between two men upon a staff.

And the twelve men came to Moses and Aaron, and all the people, and they showed the fruit, and said, "We came into the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. But the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great."

Then Caleb said, "Let us go up at once, and possess the land; for we are well able to overcome it."

But the ten men who went up with Joshua and Caleb said, "We are not able to go up against this people; for they are stronger than we." Then these ten men said, that the land was not a good land. They said, that it was a

poor land, and that all the people who dwelt there were strong, and that there were giants there.

Then the children of Israel were greatly afraid. And all the people lifted up their voices and cried; and they wept all that night.

And the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, and said, "Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt."

Then Joshua and Caleb rent their clothes, when they heard the people speak so wickedly. And they told the people, that the land which they had searched was an exceeding good land; and that the Lord would surely bring them into that land, and give it to them as He had promised, and make them able to subdue the people who dwelt there. They said, "The Lord is with us: fear them not."

Joshua and Caleb had faith in God. They trusted in Him, that He would be with them, and would protect them, and help them, if they obeyed Him, and went up to take the land, as He had commanded them.

But the people would not listen to Joshua and Caleb; and they said that they would stone them with stones. They had no faith in God. They did not believe His words, nor fear His anger.

Numbers xiii. xiv.

To subdue, is to conquer.
To protect, is to take care of.

Chapter LXFV.

THE HOPE OF THE PROMISED LAND LOST BY SIN.

THE children of Israel had greatly sinned against God.

Many times before they had provoked the Lord

f