bunches of grapes in Syria weighing from 10 to 12 pounds; Forster, who lived many years in Palestine, confirms this statement. In the middle of the last century the vinery of the Duke of Portland at Welbeck, near Worksop, produced a bunch of Syrian grapes which weighed 19 pounds, it was carried on a staff by four men as a present to the Marquis of Rockingham, at Wentworth house. How they were To punish their mistrust, God declared that no man then present, except the two faithful spies, should ever enter the promised land. punished. The faithful spies. The two faithful spies were Caleb and Joshua. The other ten were destroyed by plague; and the rebellious people were condemned to roam backwards and forwards in the desert all the rest of their lives. Section II. REBELLIONS OF KADESH-BARNEA. A period of 18 months. NUMBERS XIV., XVI., XVII. rebellion. The fifth The Fifth Rebellion arose, because the people were commanded to go back. They said they would not; and a certain number set forth, resolved at all hazards to enter Canaan. punished. How they were God punished them by sending the Amalekites and Canaanites to fall upon them and smite them. rebellion. The sixth The Sixth Rebellion was against Moses and Aaron. This conspiracy was excited by the jealousy of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Korah's com plaint. Korah said, that Aaron had no right to the priesthood, seeing all the rest of the people were just as qualified for it as he was. The other complaint: Dathan and Abi'ram said, that Moses had no right to be the leader, as they themselves were far better qualified for the office. Moses' reply. Moses replied by simply asking God to decide the question; whereupon Korah and 250 others who had laid hold of the censers were consumed by fire from heaven. how punished. Dathan, &c., As to Dathan and Abi'ram, the earth opened and swallowed them up, together with their followers, their tents, and all that they had. rebellion. The next The Seventh Rebellion arose out of this fearful judgment; for the people clamoured against Moses and Aaron, saying: "they had killed the people." punished. How they were God punished them by a plague which destroyed 14,700 men, and would not then have been arrested had not Aaron rushed between the living and the dead to make an atonement for the rebellion. settled by God. The question God settled the question of the priesthood after this by a most unequivocal miracle. The miracle. The prince of each tribe was commanded to cut an almond rod, and, after writing on it the name of his tribe, deposit it in the tabernacle. The rod which budded during the night was to indicate the sacred tribe. A.C. 1485.] What the result was. It was found that only Aaron's rod had blossomed; accordingly, Aaron and his tribe were confirmed in the priesthood; and the budding rod was ever afterwards preserved in the ark as a witness of this choice. The people now left Kadesh-barnea, journeyed westward, and returned by a zig-zag route to the very place whence they first started after crossing the Red Sea. Thence they wandered back to the Wilderness of Sinai, and then directed their course upward to within 20 miles of Kadeshbarnea again. Having arrived at this point they again turned southward, and took their way circuitously through Arabia Petræa, till they arrived at the most northern point of the Dead Sea. Section III. THE LAST OF THE FORTY YEARS. B.C. 1447-1448. NUMBERS XX.-XXIV, XXXI. The number of encampments. The people encamped 51 times after they left Kadesh-bar'nea; but nothing of importance occurred till the last year, when they reached Kadesh, the 36th of their stations. What occurred there. At Kadesh, Miriam, the sister of Moses, died at the age of 130 years. (B.C. 1448.) She is introduced in scripture as watching from a distance the cradle of bulrushes in which Moses was placed; and when the princess came to the Nile and discovered the foundling, Miriam came forward and recommended her own mother as a fit and proper nurse. Kadesh must not be mistaken for Kadesh-bar. nea. Kadesh was about 60 miles south of Kadeshbarnea, and close to Mount Hor, which is about 150 miles from Mount Sinai. murmuring. The eighth The Eighth Murmuring occurred at this station from want of water. What God did. God supplied water by bringing it from a rock in Me'ribah, as he had formerly done from the rock at Horeb. (See p. 97.) The command, how obeyed. Moses was commanded to go to a certain rock and "speak to it;" instead of which he "struck it twice," saying: "Hear now, ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock?" How he was God punished him for this punished. |