Glory of God, instead of raifing their own Credit (0) among the People, they were fentenced not to lead the Ifraelites into the Land of Canaan.

Kadeh, near which the Ifraelites were at this time encamped, was a City upon the Border of the Land of Edom (p), and from the Neighbourhood of this Place Mofes fent Meffengers unto the King of Edom to ask leave to march thro' his Country (g): The Ifraelites had received a strict Charge not to (r) make any Attempt against this People, and Mofes's Meffage was in Terms of the greatest Afsurance of Friendship to them: He acknowledged the Relation between them and Ifrael, and promifed in the most explicit manner, that he would only pass thro' their Country, without foraging any Part of it, or injuring any Perfon Inhabitant of it (r): But the Edomites were not willing to run the venture: Hitherto they had been governed by Dukes (s); but about this Time apprehending Danger, they made a King, thinking it neceffary to unite under one Head for their common Preservation: And this King of Edom refused to admit the Ifraelites into his Territories, and guarded his Frontiers with numerous Forces (t): Hereupon the Ifraelites were obliged to march another Way, and there

(c) The 12th Verfe of xxth of Numbers should be thus tranflated. Becaufe, ye were not faithful to me, to [fanctify or] glorify me, in the Eyes of the Children of Ifrael, therefore ye fhall not bring this Congregation into the Land which I have given them. (p) Numb. xx. 16. (2) Numb. xx. 14. (r) See Deut. il 4, 5, 6. (rr) Numb. xx. 17—19. (s) See Vol. II. B. VII. (t) Numb. xx. 18, 20.

R 4

fore

fore moved from Kade to mount Hor: Upon Mount Hor Aaron died, and Eleazar his Son was appointed High-Prieft in his Place (u): Aaron was an hundred and twenty Years old, when he died in Mount Hor (w), and died there in the fortieth Year after the Children of Ifrael were come out of the Land of Egypt (x), and fo died, A. M. 2553•

The King of Arad, a City in the Southern Parts of Canaan, upon the Ifraelites coming near his Borders, attacked them, and took fome of them Prisoners (y): The Ifraelites had offered no Violence to his Country, and were fo provoked at this Attempt upon them, that they vowed a Vow unto the Lord, that if they should hereafter be able, they would utterly destroy this People (z); and they were enabled, and did perform this Vow in the Days of Joshua (a), or in a little time after his Death (6): The 3d Verfe of this xxift Chapter of Numbers feems to intimate, that the Ifraelites at this Time conquered these Canaanites, and utterly deftroyed them and their Cities: But this was not Fact; for the King of Arad is one of those who were conquered by Joshua (c), and the Vengeance here threatened was either executed upon this People by his Hand, or compleated by Judah and Simeon, when they flew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it (d). The Kingdom of Arad

(u) ver. 22-29. (w) xxxiii. 38. (y) xxi. 1. (b) See Judges i. 17.

14.

i. 17.

Numb. xxxiii. 39. (x) Numb. (x) ver. 2. (a) See Jofh. xii, (c) Jofh. xii. 14.

(d) Judges

was

was not conquered in the Days of Mofes, and therefore we cannot imagine, that the Remark here inferted, that the Lord hearkned unto the Voice of Ifrael, and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly deftroyed them and their Cities, was of his writing: I fhould think Mofes left the Text thus: And Ifrael vowed a Vow unto the Lord, and faid, If thou wilt indeed deliver this People into my Hand, then I will utterly deftroy their Cities, and called the Name of the Place Hormah, i. e. Ifrael called the Place fo in token, that if ever it fhould be in their Power, they defigned to make it defolate (e): As to what is added in the third Verfe, that the Lord bearkned unto the Voice of Ifrael, and delivered up the Canaanites, and that they utterly deftroyed them and their Cities: The Thing was not done, and therefore the Remark could not be made in the Days of Mofes: The Words perhaps might be written, by way of Obfervation, in the Margin of fome ancient MS. of the Pentateuch, after the Ifraelites had destroyed the Canaanites; Copiers from fuch a MS. might afterwards transcribe it from the Margin into the Text, and thereby occafion it to come down to us as Part of it.

The King of Edom refufing to admit the Ifraelites to pass thro' his Country, and the King of Arad oppofing them upon the Frontiers of his Kingdom, they were obliged to retire back into the Wilderness, and therefore decamped from Mount Hor: They were ordered

(e) The Word Hormah fignifies a Place devoted to Deftruction.

to

to march towards the Red-Sea, and to fetch a Compafs round about the Land of Edom (f): They began this Expedition, but the Soul of the People was much difcouraged because of the Way (g): They remonftrated to Mofes all the Difficulties that would attend it; complained, that they should be diftreffed for Want of Water, and that, as to the Manna, they loathed it (b), and therefore were not willing to go again thro' a Defert, where they could expect no other Provifion: They began hereupon to be too mutinous for Mofes to lead them any further, had not God been pleased to correct them for their Obftinacy, by fending amongst them fiery Serpents, which deftroyed many of them (bb): This Calamity foon humbled them, and upon their intreating Mofes, he prayed for them, and obtained them a Cure of the Malady that afflicted them. God directed him to make a Serpent, and to fet it up in the Camp, and promised, that whoever would look upon it, hould, tho' bitten with a fiery Serpent, recover and live (i): Mofes made a Serpent of Brafs, as he was commanded, and the People found it a Remedy against the Calamity, that had destroyed great Numbers of them (k).

Sir John Marsham is very particular in his Remarks upon the fetting up the brazen Serpent(): He has collected feveral Paffages from the prophane Writers, which hint at Charms

(f) Numb xxi. 4. (g) Ibid. xxi. 6. (i) Numb. xxi. 8. P. 142.

(b) ver. 5. (ver. 9.

(bb) Numb. (Can. Chron.

and

and Inchantments to cure the Bite of Serpents; and he fays, the Hebrews made use of Inchantments for this very Purpose, which Affertion he endeavours to fupport by a Citation from the Pfalms, by another from Ecclefiaftes, and by a third from Jeremiah; and from the whole of what he offers, he would intimate, that the Cure of the Ifraelites here, that were bitten, was not miraculous; but that the brazen Serpent venenum extinguebat & morfus arte levabat, was a Charm for the Calamity (m) or an Amulet for the Distemper (2), áλeğntúewv f τοσαύτης πληγῆς. It would be trifing to endeavour to refute this Opinion: No one acquainted with Sir John Marsham's way of thinking, can imagine he believed it: I dare fay, he thought a Charm for the Biting of a Serpent as ridiculous on the hand, as the Opinion of fome learned Commentators is on the other, who, in order to make the Miracle appear the greater, contend that Brass is of a virulent Nature, and that the looking upon a Serpent made of that Metal, would by way of Sympathy add Rancour to the Wounds, instead of curing them (0). To a reasonable Inquirer the brazen Serpent cannot appear to have been, of it felf,

of any Effect at all: This unquestionably was Sir John Marsham's Opinion, and what he cites from the Heathen Writers was intended by him to prove, not that Charms had ever been a real Cure for the Bitings of Serpents, but that the World had been amufed with fuch

(m) Id. p. 144. (2) Ibid. (o) Vid. Pol. Synopf. Crit. in loc,

Fancies: