to Mattanah; which place Eusebius tells us lay* CHAP. II. upon, or in the Arnon, (whereby he understands SECT. VI. the rock or rocky tract so called, not the river,) at twelve miles distance from Medeba towards the east. Hence the Israelites removed to Nahaliel, and thence to Bamoth; and from Bamoth to the valley, that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks towards Jeshimon, or the wilderness. And in Num. xxii. 1. we read, that the children of Israel set forwards, and pitched in the plains of Moab, on this (i. e. the east) side of Jordan by Jericho. Now this encampment, as it is the last (mentioned in any other chapter) of them that were made in the life of Moses, so it is apparently the same with the last encampment mentioned Num. xxxiii. that being also said ver. 48. to be in the plains of Moab, by Jordan near Jericho. In short therefore the encampment on the other side of Arnon, Num. xxi. 13. being probably the same which is more particularly specified Num. xxxiii. 45. by the encampment there said to be at DibonGad; and the last encampment mentioned Num. xxii. 1. agreeing very well with the last encampment mentioned Num. xxxiii. 48. as being both said to be in the plains of Moab by Jordan; hence it follows, that the intermediate encampments both in the one and the other places must have been between the two encampments already mentioned, viz. between the rivers Arnon and Jordan, or more particularly between Dibon-Gad and the plains of Moab by Jordan, over-against Jericho. Certainly to determine the order of these intermediate encampments, is impossible in respect of the short account we have of them in both places of Scripture. What seems to be probable in the matter is this: That the Israelites having crossed the river Arnon, first encamped at Dibon-Gad, lying in the wilderness; then at Beer, i. e. the Well, which God

* 'Eπì rỡ "Apvwvog, which Jerom renders in Arnone, which will not agree to the river Arnon, but agrees very well to the rock or rocky tract so called, and which is only taken notice of, either by Eusebius or Jerom, under the word Arnon.

PART II. was pleased to discover to them, being in a great strait for water in that wilderness; then at Almondiblathaim, lying in the edge of the same wilderness; then at Mattanah; then at Nahaliel, a word which taken appellatively denotes the rivers or brooks of God; and so perhaps named, because here the Israelites began to meet with a country better watered than they had done in their journeys hitherto, namely, watered with several rivulets or streams issuing from the neighbouring mountains, and running into the river Arnon, or the river Jordan. From Nahaliel the Israelites décamping, they seem to have encamped next in the mountainous tract of Abarim, and in this tract to have had two particular encampments, one at Bamoth, (which probably enough may be the same place with that called, Josh. xiii. 17. Bamoth-baal, or the high places of Baal,) and the other afterwards nearer Jordan, at that part (or parts) of the mountains of Abarim, which was particularly called Nebo and Pisgah. Hence they moved, and encamped in the plains of Moab, between Beth-jeshimoth and Abel-shittim, which is the last encampment mentioned in either of the chapters we are speaking of, or in the whole Mosaic history, as being the last made during the life of Moses.

To conclude this chapter concerning the encampments of the Israelites. From comparing Num. xxxiii. with other chapters, where some of the journeys of the Israelites are taken notice of, it seems very probable, that though in Num. xxxiii. Moses professes to give an account of the journeys of the Israelites; yet he is not thereby to be understood, as if he there designed to give an account of all the particular places, where they made any halt or stay, only for a single night or day, or the like; but only of such places where they encamped, i. e. staid for some considerable time. And thus I have gone through what I judged requisite to observe concerning the journeys of the Israelites from Rameses in the land of Egypt, to the east side of the river Jordan, during the life of Moses.

CHAP. III.

CHAPTER III.

Of the Country beyond Jordan, i. e. on the East of Jordan, which was divided by Moses between the two Tribes of Reuben and Gad, and one half of the Tribe of Manasseh.

1.

The coun

THE Israelites having subdued Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites, beyond or on the east of Jordan, Moses divided their country (from its try beyond Jordan, by situation in respect of the land of Canaan, called whom posby the Greeks Peræa, i. e. the country beyond Jor- sessed sucdan) between the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, cessively. and one half of the tribe of Manasseh. And because it will be of good use for the clearer understanding of the sacred history, I shall briefly premise here a short account of the several masters, under whom these countries successively were, as far forth as may be gathered from Scripture; and so shall have opportunity to take notice by the way of the lands of Moab and Ammon.

I have in the former Part of the Geography of the Old Testament observed, that it is generally First, as is agreed, that upon the first plantation of the earth probable, by the de after the Flood, as great part of Mesopotamia, scendants and the adjoining parts of what was called by the of Uz. Greeks and Latins Syria, fell to the lot and possession of Aram, one of the sons of Shem; so Uz, one of the sons of Aram, settled himself in the. parts of Syria about Damascus ; and so these parts beyond Jordan, of which we are now speaking, were probably at first possessed by the descendants of Uz. Whence it is, I think, most probably thought by many ancient as well as modern writers, that the land of Uz, mentioned in the book of Job, is to be understood of the country lying originally between Damascus to the north, and the plantation of Cush or Arabia to the south, and the land of Canaan to the west, and Arabia Deserta to the east.