thee, that thou shalt speak. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak. And Balak went out to meet him, and said, Wherefore camest thou not unto me? Am

I not able to promote thee to honour? And Balaam said, Lo, I am come unto thee, have I now any power at all to say anything? The word that God putteth in my mouth that shall I speak. And on the morrow Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places that he might see the children of Israel. And Balaam offered sacrifice, and God told him what to say, and returning to Balak he blessed Israel, and said, Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done? I told thee to curse mine enemies, and behold thou hast blessed them altogether. And they went to another place. And again Balaam offered sacrifice. And again God met Balaam and told him what to say. And Balak said, What hath the Lord spoken? And Balaam answered, Behold I have received commandment to bless, and He hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. Then Balak took Balaam to another high place, and said, Peradventure it will please God that thou curse them from thence. And again they offered sacrifice. And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw the children of Israel abiding in tents, and the Spirit of God came upon him. And he said, How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! And he blessed the children of Israel again. Then Balak was very angry, and said, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and behold thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.

Now flee to thy place. I thought to promote thee to great honour; but, lo, the Lord hath kept thee back from honour. And Balaam said, Told I not thy messengers, What the Lord saith, that will I speak? Now therefore I go unto my people, and first I will tell thee what this people shall do unto thine in the latter days. Then Balaam prophesied of Jesus who was to come, and, full of the Spirit of the Lord, he blessed Israel again, and said, I shall see him, but not now, I shall behold him, but not nigh. There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. Then Balaam rose up and went his way, and Balak also returned unto his place. The fiery serpent was an emblem of our blessed Lord. He says Himself, prophesying His own death, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so shall the Son of Man be lifted up. Balaam's story is very wonderful, and very interesting. He also prophesied of our Lord, the Star that should rise out of Jacob.

How were Korah, Dathan, and Abiram slain, and for what cause?

Who was represented by the fiery serpent?

Where and how did Moses and Aaron sin against God?
What was their punishment?

Did Balaam obey God strictly? or did he not hasten to go with the princes of Balak, without waiting for them to call him in the morning, as God had said?

Was not God angry with him?

Of whom did Balaam prophesy in blessing the children of Israel?

The Death of Moses.—Crossing Jordan.

OSES with Israel now drew near
The Canaan given of old;

And yet he must not enter there,
As God had long foretold.

But on Mount Nebo's heights he stood
And gazed, by God's command,
With yearning eyes o'er Jordan's flood,
On all the Promised Land.

How sorely, then, in that sad hour,
Did he bewail the sin

That, by dishonouring God's great power,
Kept him from entering in !

But mercy in that hour was shown:
The Lord was with him then,
And, dying, left him not alone,
Though far away from men.

And Moses was, by God's own hand,
Laid in an unknown grave,
While Joshua led, by God's command,
Israel through Jordan's wave.

The waters parted as they trod,
And like a wall uprose,

Till Israel safe in Canaan stood,
To conquer and repose.

G

CHAPTER XIV.

Moses lays his hands on Joshua. Repeats the Law of God to Israel. Dies within sight of the Promised Land. The People cross Jordan.

N

OW God commanded Moses to number the

people again. And the Lord said, Unto these the land shall be divided: according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. So Moses and Eleazar the priest numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, near Jericho. Six hundred thousand and a thousand seven hundred and thirty above twenty years of age. But there was not a man among them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb and Joshua. And the Lord said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel. And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered. For ye rebelled against My commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to

sanctify Me at the water before their eyes. And Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, that may lead them out, and that may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thine hand upon him, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and he took Joshua, and he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord commanded. Then God said to Moses, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites afterwards thou shalt be gathered to thy people. So out of every tribe one thousand armed themselves for war-twelve thousand. And they went to fight the Midianites with Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, with trumpets to blow in his hand. And they warred against the Midianites, and slew the kings of Midian, and burnt all their cities, and took all the spoil.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come over Jordan into the land of Canaan, ye shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that every one that killeth any person unawares may flee thither.

Now Moses, knowing that the time of his death drew near, spoke unto all Israel according to all that God had commanded him. He reminded them of