The Mosera, where Aaron is said, in one passage, to have died, is associated with very different names, and placed on a different part of the list, from those mentioned in connection with Mt. Hor. This difficulty may be removed by another obvious fact. We know that the same name is sometimes applied to a very extensive region of country, and also to a single spot of that region; as with us, New York is equally applicable to a state, and to a single city. With this view let us suppose that Mt. Hor, like Mt. Seir, denotes a large extent of country, as well as a single mountain. Then the other places joined with Mosera, as well as those spoken of in connection with Hor, may be all in that region of country denominated Mt. Hor. What confirms this opinion, is, that one of the places mentioned along with Mosera, is Hor-hagdigad, which I suppose took its prefix from the name of the country, to distinguish it from some other Hagidgad, not situated in this range.

498. With this view it will follow that Aaron died at a place called Moseroth, in Num. xxxiii. 31, but Mosera, in Deut. x. 6. But his death is not mentioned on the regular list of stations, till about the time they were to leave the region of Mt. Hor: and then, not being any part of the subject the author has in hand, the account is thrown in parenthetically. Another circumstance that confirms this view, is, that the list in Numbers does not denote a straight route. We must bear in mind that the list records places in a line going north, till it comes to Kadesh; and then the direction is south. If we bend this line, therefore, into its proper form, to accord with the above fact, we shall bring the spot where the two accounts place the death of Aaron, nearly or quite to the same locality. Call this locality Mosera in the singular, or Moseroth in the plural, (either being correct according to Hebrew usage,) and the region of country, Mt. Hor, as well perhaps, as the particular spot where Aaron died, and

every difficulty of this passage, that has troubled interpreters so much, is removed.

499. The above exposition prepares us to understand another difficulty that has embarrassed commentators. The passage in Deuteronomy makes the people to have come first to Bene-jaakan, and then to Mosera; but in Numbers they are said to come to Moseroth first, and then to Bene-jaakan. As these places must have been in the region of country through which they passed, both in going north and after they had turned to the south, it is very easy to see that they might have passed through as many as two of the places twice. This would of course reverse the order of passing those places. In other words, they would pass them in going north, as one passage states, and in going south, as the other affirms. We would add, that what is called Bene-jaakan in one passage, is the same as "children of Jaakan" in the other, (Bene having the meaning of children.)

500. And having got the key to unlock the true exposition of these passages, we meet with numerous confirmations. We will mention one. It is certain that the list in Numbers xxxiii., does not mention a place but once, when, in some instances, we know that the same place was visited twice or more. The people we know, visited Kadesh soon after leaving Sinai. We know, too, that they were at Kadesh not long before starting for Canaan, round the southern point of Edom. But the list gives the place but once, and that is in connection with their march to the south. Of course other places would be just as likely to be omitted, and for the same reason. Therefore, as we conclude, having passed through Moseroth and Bene-jaakan going one way, these places would not be named, though visited, on their return route.

SECTION IV.-CONFLICT WITH ARAD.

NUMBERS XXI.

1. And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners.

2. And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.

3. And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites: and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah.

NUMBERS XXXIII.

40. And king Arad, the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.

501. The passage above from Numbers, chapter thirty-three, is a brief allusion to Arad, in connection with the list of stations where the Israelites encamped. It is just such allusion as we may suppose the author to have made, without remembering, for the moment, that he had given an account of that transaction in another place, and which he at once breaks off, when that thought occurs to him.

502. King Arad heard that Israel came by way of the spics. It was well remembered that the Israelites had been in this region before, and had sent spies into the country of the Canaanites. It was, therefore, presumed that they were here again, with a view to another attempt in the same direction. And I know not but we may regard them in the same way. We can give no good reason why they should be at Kadesh at this time, unless it was with the hope that some circumstance might favor their passage into Canaan, by this direct route. The demonstrations made against them, however, on the part of the Canaanites, as well as the refusal of the people of Edom to let them pass through their country, determined them to take the route they finally resolved upon.

503. Why Arad should come out against them, after they had actually started on their southern route, we cannot say. But, as Mt. Hor was not far from Kadesh, we may conclude that he could not have felt certain that they were about to take another route.

Hormah is named as the place to which the Israelite army was pursued on a former occasion, when the Canaanites were the victors. Numbers xiv. 45. In the present instance, they appear to have attacked the Hebrews south of that place, and to have been repulsed, and driven back to that point.

SECTION V.-THE FIERY SERPENTS.

NUMBERS XXI.

4. And they journeyed from, Moses, and said, We have sinned; mount Hor by the way of the Red for we have spoken against the sea, to compass the land of Edom: LORD, and against thee; pray unto and the soul of the people was the LORD that he take away the much discouraged because of the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

way.

5. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

6. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

7. Therefore the people came to

8. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

9. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole: and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

504. "By the way of the Red Sea," does not mean that branch of the Red Sea they had passed over, but another branch lying farther east.

The fiery serpents were so called, probably, because of the painful irritation and inflammation occasioned by their bite. These serpents were animals of the country, and are not to be understood as having been miraculously produced to punish the people. "Several authors are of opinion that the serpents which bit the Israelites were of the flying kind, and might be called

fiery by reason of their color. Herodotus informs us that Arabia produced this sort of serpents, in great abundance; and the time of the year wherein the Israelites were under this calamity, was in the season when these creatures were usually upon the wing to visit the neighboring, and adjacent countries, and might now be directed into the camp of the Israelites.' It is true their color may have given them the name, but the other interpretation seems more probable.

505. The miracle consisted in their recovery from the cause here assigned. How much the faith of those who were healed had to do in their recovery we cannot say. That their faith was essential, is plainly implied, since, without faith, they would not have availed themselves of the remedy. And as we know that faith is a powerful agent, in such cases, we may put this miracle with the others we have had occasion to notice, where a natural cause intensified was made to work out the desired result.

SECTION VI.-THE PEOPLE ADVANCE TO MOAB.

NUMBERS XXI.

10. And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth. 11. And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ije-abarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sun-rising.

12. From thence they removed, and pitched in the valley of Zared. 13. From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites; for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

14. Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon.

15. And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the

dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab.

16. And from thence they went to Beer: that is, the well whereof the LORD spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.

17. Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it:

18. The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah:

19. And from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Ba moth;

20. And from Bamoth in the valley, that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon.

* Stackhouse.