Joshua and all the children of Israel should do as He should command them by Eleazar.

Numbers xxvi. xxvii. 12–23. & Deut. iii. 23—27.

Counsel, is advice. To ask counsel of God, is to ask Him to teach us what we shall do.

Chapter LXXEEE.

THE INHERITANCE OF THE TWELVE TRIBES, AND THE PORTION OF THE LEVITES.

THE children of Israel were now dwelling in the land which they had taken from the Amorites, which was on the east side of the river Jordan. God had given them this land to possess it. But they had not yet come into the promised land, the land of Canaan, which was on the other side of the river Jordan.

Now the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, had a very great multitude of cattle; and

when they saw that the land which the people had taken from the Amorites was a good land for cattle, they prayed Moses to give it to them for their portion. They said that they would build sheepfolds for their cattle, and cities for their wives and children, but that they themselves would go armed with their brethren to help them to conquer the land, which the Lord had promised them, on the other side of the river Jordan. They said, "We will not return into our houses, till the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance."

Then Moses gave the land on the side of Jordan where they were, which they had taken from the Amorites, to the tribe of Reuben, and the tribe of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. And he divided that land among these tribes according to their numbers.

While the children of Israel were still in the plains of Moab, near the river Jordan, God spake to Moses, and told him to command the children of Israel, that when they had passed over the river Jordan into the land of Canaan, they should drive h

out all the inhabitants of the land from before them. God said that they should destroy their molten images, and the high places where they worshipped their idols, and should take their land, and possess it; for He had given it to them.

And the land was to be divided among them by lot according to their numbers. The tribes which were most in numbers, were to have more of the land, and the tribes which were fewest in number, were to have less of it. And every man was to have for his inheritance the place where his lot fell.

And the Lord commanded Moses to say to the children of Israel," If ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them."

وو

The tribes of Reuben and of Gad, and half the

tribe of Manasseh, had received their inheritance on the east side of Jordan. And the Lord told Moses, that when the children of Israel had passed over the river Jordan, Eleazar the priest, and Joshua, and one prince out of each tribe, were to divide the land on the other side Jordan by lot among the other nine tribes and a half.

The tribe of Levi was not to have a portion of the land of Canaan, as the other tribes had; the Lord was the portion of the tribe of Levi. God had said that the children of Israel should offer to Him a tithe, or tenth part, of all that they had. This tenth was to belong to the tribe of Levi, because they were the servants of the Lord, to do the service of the tabernacle, and minister to His priests. The Lord gave them this portion to inherit. And the tribe of Levi were to offer to the Lord the tenth, the best part of all that was brought to them, for the priests, the family of Aaron.

And the Lord told Moses to command the children of Israel to give forty-eight cities to the Levites to dwell in, with land round about them

for their cattle. Each tribe was to give some of the cities that were in their portion of the land. Those that had many were to give many, and those that had few were to give few. These forty-eight cities, and the tenths which the children of Israel offered to the Lord, were to be the inheritance of the tribe of Levi.

Numbers xxxii. xxxiii. 50—56; xxxiv. 17; xxxv. & xviii.

Inhabitants are the people who live in a place.

Molten images are images made of silver or gold, or any other metal melted into a shape.

A prince is a ruler or chief person among a tribe or people.

Chapter LXXIV.

THE CHARGE AND LAST COMMANDS OF MOSES TO GOD'S PEOPLE.

NEARLY forty years had now passed since the children of Israel had come forth from the land of Egypt, and the time drew nigh, when they were to enter the promised land. But Moses, the