234

THE HOSTS OF ISRAEL.

while he was living in the cave at Zoar (Gen. xix. 30-38); and Lot being a nephew of Abraham, the Israelites were commanded to pass Moab, and also Ammon, Moab's brother, as being near of kin to themselves.

They were remarkably obedient to the command (Deut. ii. 5, 9, 19), "distress not the Moabites," 66 nor meddle with" the Edomites and the Ammonites; and the only distress occasioned to Moab was to Balak, its king, who was ignorant of the motive which caused the Israelites to ravage the territories of the Amorites, who were immediately adjoining Moab and across the river Arnon, on the north, and the land of Og, king of Bashan, north of the Amorites, and so quietly pass by his own land. This course of the Israelites was to Balak only a source of suspicion and anxiety. The Edomites on his southern border, though nearer by kin to the Israelites than these children of Lot, and knowing their history (Numb. xx. 14: "Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us") and their "travail," resisted any advance upon their territory, threatening them with the sword if they attempted it; and this, too, in answer to a very respectful and humble deputation sent by Moses when at Kadesh, on the utmost edge of their land (Numb. xx. 16).

CHAPTER XX.

THE NATIONS AROUND-PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN.

THE relation of these "outside tribes" of Israel is interesting, and may be seen by the table of genealogy given on the preceding page.

The king of Moab did not perceive the relation between his own people and the Israelites, nor yet God's purposes to spare the country; or-becoming timid, from the fact that the AMORITES had, during the reign of his predecessor, robbed Moab of all the lands and cities on the north of the Arnon, to such an extent that their violence became a proverb he feared to have a people in his vicinity who showed themselves stronger than his conquerors. Notwithstanding this timid king "served his own idols, he feared the Lord;" and hence his desire to obtain a curse of the Israelites through Balaam, who, though a prophet, had not the wisdom of the ass he rode, for that saw the Divine opposition to his course before his master's eyes were opened to the same vision. And surely such a prophet was a fit companion for such a king, who had not the wit to see that God would not certainly not through such an instrument as Balaam― curse his own people Israel. Balaam's love for the wages of unrighteousness caused him to be ridden by Balak to his own destruction; for the Scriptures tells us that, for teaching Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel (Rev. ii. 14), God smote him with the strokes he intended for his own beast, and he perished in the battle between Israel and the Midianites (Numb. xxxi. 8). Notwithstanding Moab's fears and follies, he escaped injury

AMORITES THE USURPERS. *

237

from the Israelites, only because of their reverence for the command of God.

All the plain and mountains east of us formerly belonged to Moab, and were taken from him by the king of a wandering tribe (the Amorites), who succeeded in planting himself between the two brothers, Moab on the south, and Ammon on the north-east. This he effected by driving the Moabites out of their land, taking care not to intrude upon Ammon. By this we learn that these two sons of Lot had no very strong mutual attachment; for neither at this time, nor when afterward Moab united with Midian on the east and south-east of his borders in the attempt against Israel, do we hear of any aid offered or attempted on the part of Ammon, though called a "strong border" (Numb. xxi. 24). I have thought it necessary to an understanding of the position and course of the wandering hosts of Israel to be thus definite in the description of the tribes which had such intimate connexion with them. There still remains a little indefiniteness in relation to the Midianites. Who were they? and why were they in the east? By reference to the table (p. 235), we see they were descendants of Abraham by Keturah. And Abraham gave them gifts, and during his lifetime sent them "eastward into the east country" (Gen. xxv. 6). Now Abraham, at the time of this sending eastward, was himself west of the Dead Sea, at Hebron: hence, their settlement east of the Dead Sea happened at an early day, long before the time of the Exodus; and thus, by the time the Israelites arrived at the same place from their wanderings, these sons of Abraham and Keturah were firmly established. The Medanites (translated Midianites in Gen. xxxvii. 36) were established as tradesmen on the east of the Dead Sea, and adjoining their brethren the Midianites, who were probably below them; they stretched along east of Edom and south toward Sinai. Hence the position of Moses's father-in-law, the priest of Midian, near Sinai. In the time of Jacob, these tribes, being small, seem to have banded together for the

238

AMMONITES AND AMORITES.

purpose of trade, as they were settled in the same part of the country; and thus the Ishmaelites, Midianites, and Medanites are mentioned together in the transaction which resulted in the sale of Joseph into Egypt, to Potiphar, being the three nearest of kin (Gen. xxxvii. 27-36).

We are now prepared to understand scriptural references to these tribes. On the sea, far south, was Edom. Coming up on the south-east of the sea, we enter Moab, and east of Moab was Midian, where Balaam lived. Still farther up the eastern coast of the sea, and north of Moab, was the country of the usurping Amorites, under Sihon, whose country was once entirely Moab's. This was north from the river Arnon (half-way up the Dead Sea) to the Jabbok, now Wady Zerka, a river about twenty miles north of our present position, and emptying into the Jordan on the west. Hence, though we call the mountains east of Jericho the mountains of Moab, they were really in the Amorites' territory. Still farther east, and north-east of the Amorites, was the territory of Ammon, Moab's brother. To the north of the Amorites, and north-west of the Ammonites, was the territory of Og, king of Bashan. Now, looking at the point in the river east of us, referred to above, we see south of it Reuben's territory, and north that of Gad, with the lofty peaks of Jebel es Salt, or Mountains of Gilead, but seen indifferently here, compared with the view from the mountains at Wady Kelt. The district of the half-tribe of Manasseh, that lay beyond Gad, cannot be seen, for a part of Gad ran along the Jordan quite to the Lake of Tiberias.

Here we might ask, Where is the passage-point of the children of Israel? The very form of the question suggests one probable cause for the variance on this subject. How many were there in this grand host which made the passage? Just before crossing the Jordan the number of fighting men was 601,730 (Numb. xxvi. 51). Supposing each to be married, the number would be increased to 1,203,460; and, allowing an average of but one child to each family, the number would become 1,805,190: now