selves, and to their leader, and thus justify the delay that would result.

463. If the plan originated with Moses, it was prompted by a wise policy, to make himself acquainted with all the difficulties of the enterprise, not with a view to flee from them, but, if the people were prepared, to meet them with better prospect of success. The people had every reason to place confidence in the divine Ruler, from their past experience; but they were not yet prepared to accept the divine assurance.

SECTION IX.-CONFLICT WITH THE CANAANITES.

NUMBERS XIV.

40. And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned.

DEUTERONOMY I.

41. Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when

ye had girded on every man his 41. And Moses said, Wherefore weapons of war, ye were ready to now do ye transgress the command-go up into the hill. ment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper.

42. Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.

43. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.

44. But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.

45. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfitted them, even unto Hormah.

42. And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you: lest ye be smitten before your enemies.

43. So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.

44. And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.

45. And ye returned, and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.

46. So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye aboue there.

464. How natural this spasmodic bravery. The people rose up in their despair and resolved to make one mighty effort to redeem themselves from the re

proach that rested on them. The attempt was as unsuccessful as it was ill-advised. They first rebelled, in not going at the proper time, then they rebelled in going at an improper time. The result was what might be expected.

465. The two passages that speak of this event seem to conflict in one particular. One passage represents the Amalekites and Canaanites as the hostile forces that fought against the Hebrews and overcame them, the other says that the Amorites did this.

466. The discrepancy is only in the use of terms. The inhabitants of Canaan are all called Amorites as well as Canaanites. So that all the difference there is, consists in calling them Canaanites in one passage and Amorites in another; also, that one passage associates the Amalekites with the Canaanites, and the other does not mention that circumstance. There is no contradiction between the two. One has an omission that the other has not. The connection of the Amalekites with the Canaanites, in that enterprise, was a very natural circumstance. They were a branch of the Edomites; and their country was adjacent to Canaan; and we find them on a former occasion coming a good way to fight against the Israelites, from which we know that they had no friendly feelings toward them; and now, perhaps, less than then; since they had been defeated on the first occasion.

SECTION X.-SEDITION OF KORAH.

NUMBERS XVI.

1. Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi; and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:

2. And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:

3. And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them; wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.

28. And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.

29. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me:

30. But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.

31. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:

32. And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.

33. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.

34. And all Israel that were

round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.

35. And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

36. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

37. Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder; for they are hallowed.

38. The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar; for they offered them before the LORD, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel.

39. And Eleazar the priest took the brazen censers, wherewith they that were burnt had offered; and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar.

40. To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the LORD: that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses.

467. It is worthy of being noticed that this rebellion, as well as that of Aaron and Miriam, originated among the more favored portion of the children of Israel. The leaders in the revolt belonged to the tribe of Levi; and though, in the present instance, some of the tribe of Reuben were associated with them, yet Korah, of the tribe of Levi, is evidently distinguished as the most important personage on the list. "Ye take too much upon yourselves," was equivocal, and was perhaps designed to be so. It might be an expression of concern for their arduous labors, or it might be an outburst of envy, in view of what was looked upon as an unreasonable assumption on the part of Moses and Aaron.

It was understood by Moses in its true sense, however, and was met accordingly. A test is proposed. Korah and his company are instructed to take censers, and commence the duties of the priesthood, at which they aimed; and the Lord would show who was to be regarded as specially appointed to those functions and divinely approved. "Ye take too much upon yourselves, ye sons of Levi," was the use of their own language, to rebuke their arrogance and impiety. It was not enough that they had been selected to fill the offices of religion in a subordinate capacity. They aspired to the priesthood which, at present, was, by divine appointment, in the hands of another. And in their opposition to Aaron, who was the High Priest of the nation, and who had been set apart to that office by God himself, they were really contending against the Almighty.

468. From verse 8th to 11th Moses addresses Korah and his company, the sons of Levi; but he now sends for Dathan and Abiram. Refusing to come at his bidding, they add reproach to insubordination. They charge him with taking them from a land of plenty, and now killing them in the wilderness. They do not fail to mention that he had not brought them into the land of Canaan, as he had promised, a statement that took its principal significance from the recent failure to take possession of the land. They may have intended to charge upon him the recent defeat of his army. Nothing was more natural, among such a people as the Hebrews had shown themselves to be, than that such feelings should exist; and now was a very fit time, 'as they doubtless thought, to make a demonstration against their leader.

469. The remark of Moses that he had taken nothing from them, makes us think that one of the charges they brought against him was that of over exac

tions.

470. It is worthy of note, that sometimes Korah,