had been fed, God sent among them a destructive pestilence, and on account of the bodies of those to whom the pestilence had proved fatal being buried in it, the place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, i. e. the graves of the greedy after food. And the next encampment was Hazeroth. This is supposed to be the Hazerim, wherein the Avim are said (Deut. ii. 23,) to have dwelt, even unto Azza, or Gazza. It is evident that this place lay without the wilderness of Paran, properly so called; for it is said, (Num. xii. 16,) that the Israelites removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran. Here jealousy and dissension arose in the family of Moses. Miriam, Moses' sister, who, from the very prominent part she took in the rejoicings at the Red Sea, appears to have been at the head of the female part of the community, was either supplanted, or supposed herself to be supplanted, by the Cushite wife of Moses; and Aaron espoused her quarrel. But as the authority of the law must be maintained, they were brought before the assembly and rebuked, and Miriam was punished with leprosy, and shut out from the camp seven days,-the term prescribed by the law for ceremonial purification. From this place, they went into and pitched their tents in the wilderness of Paran.

The wilderness of Paran is taken in Scripture in an extended, and in a more restricted sense. In the former, it comprehends all the desert and mountainous tracts lying between the wilderness of Shur, westward, and Mount Seir or the land of Edom, on the east ; and between the land of Canaan, on the north, and the Red Sea, on the south. Thus it comprehended the wilderness of Sin, and that of Sinai; also the tract, wherein lay Kibroth-hattaavah and Hazeroth. In this sense, it seems to be understood in Deut. i. 19. In its more restricted sense, however, it denoted merely that part of the desert of Arabia Petræa, which lies between

Mount Sinai and Hazeroth, on the west, and Mount Seir, on the east. It is in its more restricted sense that we are at present to regard it; for it is spoken of as distinct from Sinai; (Num. xxxiii. 16;) and from Hazeroth; (Num. xii. 16;) both of which it includes in its more comprehensive sense.

From Kadesh-barnea, which lay in this wilderness of Paran, Moses, by divine command, sent twelve men, from each tribe a man, to spy out the land of Canaan ; who, after a reconnoitre of forty days, returned to him into the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh. Bringing back, however, such a report of this land as proved highly discouraging to the people, God was provoked to decree, that none of those above the age of twenty years should enter Canaan, excepting Joshua and Caleb, who had brought back a different report from that of the rest of the spies; but that they should perish in the wilderness; where also the rest should wander, till they should complete so many years from their leaving Egypt, as the spies had spent days in searching the land of Canaan. After a signal defeat from the Amalekites and Canaanites, therefore, in an impious and presumptuous attempt, in defiance of the command of God, to enter Canaan, they turned and took their journey into the wilderness, by the way of the sea, as God had commanded them.

After the lapse of about thirty-eight years, which were probably spent in the neighbourhood of Sinai, that being the most fruitful part of the peninsula, and supplying water and pasture for their flocks and cattle, the Israelites received a command from God to break up their camp, and proceed northward, Deut. ii. 3. Accordingly, they came into the wilderness of Zin, in the first month, and abode in Kadesh, Num. xx. 1.

The Kadesh mentioned in this passage is thought to be a different place from Kadesh-barnea, and that from the following considerations :—

1. From the description of the south border of the Israelites in the land of Canaan, found in Num. xxxiv. 3, 4, and Josh. xv. 1-3. These passages render it evident that Zin, the place from which the wilderness took its name, and Kadesh-barnea, are two distinct places, and lay at some considerable distance from each other.

2. From the fact, that it was from Kadesh-barnea that the Israelites, in the first year of their journeying, sent spies to reconnoitre the land of Canaan, whereas they do not appear to have arrived at Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, till the fortieth year.

The wilderness of Zin, in which this Kadesh lay, was east of Edom. Thus from Ezion-gaber, where the Israelites were when they received the command of God to turn northward, (Num. xxxiii. 36,) they would have before them a direct course to Canaan, leaving Mount Seir to the west, and not being obliged again to touch it. This prospective position relatively to Mount Seir harmonises with the declared will of God respecting their retrospective position relatively to it, which is made the reason of the command to them to turn northward: "Ye have compassed this mountain (i. e. Mount Seir) “long enough.”

From Kadesh they removed, and encamped in Mount Hor, which is declared to be in the edge of the land of Edom, Num. xxxiii. 37. As this was the next encampment after that in the wilderness of Zin, and it is probable that the wilderness of Zin lay east, or northeast, of Edom, Mount Hor must likewise be east of Edom. Here Aaron died, God not permitting him to enter Canaan, because he had rebelled against his word at the waters of Meribah.

A difficulty arises concerning the place of Aaron's death and burial, from comparing the passage in the book of Numbers, which records them, with that in Deuteronomy which records the same events. In the

book of Numbers, it is said that Aaron died on Mount Hor; but in the book of Deuteronomy, (x. 6,) it is said that the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth, of the children of Jaakan, to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried. Wells resolves this difficulty into an error of a transcriber; for in the text of the Hebrew Samaritan, or old Hebrew text, the passage in Deuteronomy agrees with that in Numbers. The whole passage in Deuteronomy, the tenth chapter, from the sixth verse, translated from the Samaritan text, reads thus :-" The children of Israel took their journey from Mosera, and pitched in Benejaakan (or among the children of Jaakan.) Thence they took their journey, and pitched at Gidgad, (or Hagedgad.) Thence they took their journey, and pitched in Jotbatha, a land of brooks of waters. Thence they took their journey, and pitched at Ebronah. Thence they took their journey, and pitched in EzionGaber. Thence they took their journey, and pitched in the desert of Zin, which is Kadesh. Thence they took their journey, and pitched in Mount Hor. And there Aaron died, and was buried."*

From Mount Hor they proceeded round Mount Seir, and pitched in Zalmonah, thence in Punon, and thence in Oboth, (Num. xxxiii. 41.) Between Mount Hor, and the last of these places, fiery serpents were sent to them as a punishment of their impenitence and murmurings. Moses, however, in answer to his prayers, was commanded to make a serpent of brass, and erect it on a pole, by looking stedfastly at which, those who had been bitten were miraculously healed.

From Oboth, they proceeded to, and encamped in Ije-abarim, in the wilderness of Moab, toward the sunrising, (Num. xxxiii. 44; xxi. 11.) From Ije-abarim, proceeding northward, they came to the valley, or brook, of Zered, and there pitched. And, in order to * Vide Wells' Hist. Geog.

take possession of the territories of Sihon, king of the Amorites, they crossed the river Arnon, and pitched in the wilderness, on the other side of the river, and which, it is said, comes out of the coasts of the Amorites.

In Num. xxxiii. 45, it is said, they removed from lim, or Ije-abarim, and pitched in Dibon-gad. Now, as this Dibon-gad is probably the same place as Dibon, said (Num. xxxii. 34) to have been rebuilt by Gad, and this is on the other side of Arnon, there seems to be little or no discrepancy between the passages.

From Dibon-gad, they removed to Almon-diblathaim, (Num. xxxiii. 46;) departing thence, they pitched in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, over against Jericho. And their camp extended from Beth-jesimoth, unto Abel-shittim, both places in the plains of Moab.

Abarim was a ridge of mountains extending a considerable distance between the rivers Arnon and Jordan. Nebo was a part of the mountains of Abarim, lying near Jordan, over against Jericho. From Deut. xxxiv. 1, where it is said that Moses went up from the plains of Moab into the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho, it appears that Nebo and Pisgah were the same mountain. Or, if any distinction is to be made between them, it is probable, either that the top of the mountain was more particularly called Pisgah, or a part of it where steps were cut to go up to it. The word comes from a root which signifies both to cleave asunder, and to contemplate; the word, therefore, might legitimately be employed to denote a more elevated part of a mountain, suitable for an observatory, and approached by steps cut out in it for the purpose of approaching it. Eusebius has observed, that by Aquila, by whom the Bible was translated into Greek, the Hebrew word Pisgah, is constantly ren