covenant which the Lord hath made with you. (Exod. xxiv. 6. 8.) To this transaction Saint Paul alludes in his Epistle to the Hebrews (ix. 20.), and explains its evangelical meaning.

III. Of CONTRACTS and bargains of sale.

Among the Hebrews, and long before them among the Canaanites, the purchase of any thing of consequence was concluded, and the price paid, at the gate of the city, as the seat of judgment, before all who went out and came in. (Gen. xxiii. 16-20. Ruth iv. 1, 2.) In process of time, the joining or striking of hands was introduced as a ratification of a bargain and sale. This usage was not unknown in the days of Job (xvii. 3.) and Solomon often alludes to it. (See Prov. vi. 1. xi. 15. xvii. 18. xx. 16. xxii. 26. xxvii. 13.) The earliest vestige of written instruments, sealed and delivered for ratifying the disposal and transfer of property, occurs in Jer. xxxii. 10-12., where the prophet commanded Baruch to bury the deed of sale in an earthen vessel, in order to be preserved for production at a future period, as evidence of the purchase. (14, 15.) No mention is expressly made of the manner in which deeds were antiently cancelled. Some expositors have imagined, that in Col. ii. 14. Saint Paul refers to the cancelling of them by blotting or drawing a line across them, or by striking them through with a nail; but we have no information whatever from antiquity to authorise such a conclusion.

CHAPTER VI.

LAWS RESPECTING STRANGERS, AGED, DEAF, BLIND, AND POOR PERSONS.

I. STRANGERS are frequently mentioned in the laws of Moses, who specifies two different descriptions of them; viz. 1. Those who had no home, whether they were Israelites or foreigners; and, 2. Those who were strangers generally, and who possessed no land or property, though they might have purchased houses. In

behalf of both these classes, the Hebrew legislator ordained the same rights and privileges (Lev. xxiv. 19-22. Numb. x. 14. xv.. .5.): and he enforced the duties of kindness and humanity towards them, by reminding the Israelites that they had once been strangers in Egypt. (Lev. xix. 33, 34. Deut. x. 19. xxiii.7. xxiv. 18.) Strangers might be naturalised, or permitted to enter into the congregation of the Lord, by submitting to circumcision and renouncing idolatry. (Deut. xxiii. 1-9.) After the third generation the Edomites and Egyptians might be thus naturalised; but the Ammonites and Moabites, in consequence of their hostility to the Israelites while in the wilderness, were absolutely excluded from the right of citizenship.

II. In a monarchy or aristocracy, birth and office alone give rank; but in a democracy, where all are on an equal footing, the right discharge of official duties, or the arrival of OLD AGE, are the only sources of rank. Hence the Mosaic statute in Lev. xix. 32. (before the hoary head thou shalt stand up, and shalt reverence the aged,) will be found suited to the republican circumstances of the Israelites, as well as conformable to the nature and wishes of the human heart.

Nor does Moses extends the pro

confine his attention to the aged. He tection of a special statute to the DEAF and the BLIND, in Lev. xix. 14., which prohibits the reviling the one or putting a stumbling-block in the way of the other. In Deut. xxvii. 18. a curse is denounced against him who misleads the blind.

III. With regard to the Poor, various humane regulations were made. The rich were exhorted to assist a decayed Israelite with a loan, and not to refuse, even though the sabbatical year drew nigh (Deut. xv. 7—10.); and no pledge was to be detained for the loan of money that served for the preservation of his life or health Deut. xxiv. 12, 13.), or was necessary to enable him to procure bread for himself and family, as the upper and

nether mill-stones. During harvest, the owner of a field was prohibited from reaping the corn that grew in its corners, or the after-growth: and the scattered ears, or sheaves carelessly left on the ground, equally belonged to the poor. After a man had once shaken or beaten his olive trees, he was not permitted to gather the olives that still hung on them: so that the fruit, which did not ripen until after the season of gathering, belonged to the poor. Lev. xix. 9, 10. Deut. xxiv. 19, 20, 21. Ruth ii. 2-19.) Further, whatever grew during the sabbatical year, in the fields, gardens, or vineyards, the poor might take at pleasure, having an equal right to it with the owners of the land. Another important privilege enjoyed by the poor was, what were called second tenths and second firstlings; the regulations concerning which may be found in Deut. xii. 5—12. 17—19. xiv. 22—29. xvi. 10, 11. xxvi. 12, 13.

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE MILITARY AFFAIRS OF THE JEWS, AND OTHER NATIONS
MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURES.

I. RESPECTING the MILITARY DISCIPLINE OF THE JEWS, numerous particulars are incidentally dispersed through the Sacred Writings, for a full account of which the reader is necessarily referred to the author's larger work from which the following leading circumstances are selected.

The earliest wars, noticed in the sacred writings, appear to have been nothing more than mere predatory excursions, like those of the modern Bedouin Arabs. The wars in which the Israelites were engaged, were of two kinds; either such as were expressly enjoined by divine command, or such as were voluntary and entered upon by the prince for revenging some national affronts, and for the honour of his sovereignty. After their departure from Egypt, the whole of the men, from twenty

years and upwards until the age of fifty (when they might demand their discharge if they chose), were liable to military service, the priests and Levites not excepted. (Numb. i. 3. 22. 2 Sam. xxiii. 20. 1 Kings ii. 35.) Like the militia in some countries, they were always ready to assemble at the shortest notice. If the occasion were extremely urgent, affecting their existence as a people, all were summoned to war; but ordinarily, when there was no necessity for convoking the whole of their forces, a selection was made. This mode of choosing soldiers, to which there are numerous allusions in the Scriptures, accounts for the rapid formation of the vast armies, of which we read in the Old Testament. There were, however, certain exemptions in favour of particular persons, which are specified in Deut. xx. 5—8. and xxiv. 5. The officers, who were placed at the head of the Hebrew forces, appear not to have differed materially from those whom we find in antient and modern armies. The most distinguished was the Captain of the Host (2 Kings iv. 13.), who possessed great power and influence, sometimes indeed nearly equal to that of the sovereign, and who appears to have been of the same rank with him, who is now termed the commander in chief of an army. After the establishment of the monarchy, this officer, and also the captains of thousands, hundreds, &c., received their commissions from the sovereign (2 Sam. xviii. 1. 2 Chron. xxv. 5.); who at first went to war in person, and fought on foot like the meanest of their soldiers, until David being exposed to great danger, his people would no longer allow him to lead them on to battle. (2 Kings xxi. 17.) There were no horse in the Israelitish army before the time of Solomon; nor, though mention is made in Scripture of the military chariots of other nations, does it appear that the Hebrews ever used war chariots. Solomon, indeed, had a considerable number; but no military expedition is recorded, in which he employed them. No information is given us in the Scriptures concerning the order of encampment adopted by the

Israelites after their settlement in Canaan. During their sojourning in the wilderness, the form of their camp, according to the account given in Numb. ii., appears to have been quadrangular, having three tribes placed on each side, under one general standard, so as to inclose the tabernacle, which stood in the centre. Between these four great camps and the tabernacle were pitched four smaller camps of the priests and Levites, who were immediately in attendance upon it; the camp of Moses and of Aaron and his sons (who were the ministering priests, and had the charge of the sanctuary), was on the east side of the tabernable, where the entrance was. The following diagram, which is reduced from the author's larger work, will give the reader an idea of the beautiful order of the Israelitish encampment which extorted from the mercenary Balaam the exclamation lated in Numb. xxiv. 2. 5, 6.

re

41,500.

53,400.

SECOND GRAND DIVISION.

SIMEON, and GAD,

46,500.
REUBEN,

59,300.

45,650.

KOHATHITES,

2,750.