government, he foretold, as God had declared to him, that if they transgressed that institution for the worship of God, they should experience the following miseries: their land should be full of weapons of war from their enemies, their cities should be overthrown, and their temple should be burnt; that they should be sold for slaves to such men as would have no pity on them in their afflictions; and that they would repent, when that repentance would no way profit them under their sufferings.Yet," said he, "will that God who founded your nation, restore your cities to your citizens, with their temple also, and you shall lose these advantages not once only, but often."

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Now when Moses had encouraged Joshua to lead out the army against the Canaanites, by telling him that God would assist him in all his undertakings, and had blessed the whole multitude; he said, "Since I am going to my forefathers, and God has determined that this should be the day of my departure to them, I return him thanks, while I am still alive and present with you, for that providence be hath exercised over you, which hath not only delivered us from the miseries they lay under, but hath bestowed a state of prosperity among us; as also that he hath assisted me in the pains I took, and in all the contrivances I had in my care about you, in order to better your condition; and hath on all occasions shewed himself favourable to us. Or rather he it was who first conducted our affairs, and brought them to a happy conclusion, by making use of me as a general under him, and as a minister in those matters wherein he was willing to do you good. On which accounts I think it proper to bless that divine power which will take care of you for the time to come; and this in order to repay that debt which I owe him; and to leave behind me a memorial that we are obliged to worship and honour him, and to keep those laws which are the most excellent gift of all those he hath already bestowed upon us; or which, if he continue favourable to us, he will bestow upon us hereafter. Certainly, a human legislator is a terrible enemy, when his laws are affronted, and are made to no purpose. And may you never experience that displeasure of God, which will be the consequence of the neglect of those laws, which he, who is your Creator, hath given you."

When Moses had spoken this, at the end of his life, and had foretold what would befall* every one of their tribes afterward, with the addition of a blessing to them, the multitude fell into tears; insomuch that even the women, by beating their breasts, evinced the deep concern they had when he was about to die. The children also lamented still more, as not able to contain their grief; and thereby declared that even at their age they were sensible of his virtue, and mighty deeds; and truly there seemed to be a strife between the young and the old, who should most grieve for him. The aged grieved, because they knew what a careful protector they were to be deprived of, and so lamented their future state; but the young grieved, not only for that, but also because it so happened, that they were to be left by him before they had well tasted of his virtue. Now one may form some idea of the excess of this sorrow and lamentation of the multitude, from what happened to the legislator himself. For although he was always persuaded that he ought not to be cast down at the approach of death; since the undergoing it was agreeable to the will of God, and the law of nature; yet what the people did, so affected him, that he wept himself. Now as he went thence to the place where he was to vanish out of their sight, they all followed after him, weeping. But Moses beckoned with his hand to those that were remote from him, and bid them stay behind in quiet; while he exhorted those that were near him, that they would not render his departure so lamentable. Whereupon they thought it their duty to let him depart according as he desired; so they restrained themselves, though weeping still towards one another. All those who accompanied him were the senate, and Eleazar the highpriest, and Joshua their commander. Now as soon as they were come to the mountain called Abarim, which is a very high mountain situate over against Jericho, and one that affords to such as are upon it a prospect of the greatest part of the excellent land of Canaan, he dismissed the senate; and, as he was going to embrace Eleazar and Joshua, and was still discoursing

* Since Josephus assures us here, as is most naturally to be supposed, and as the Septuagint gives the text, Deut. xxxiii. 6, that Moses blessed every one of the tribes of Israel; it is evident that Simeon was not omitted in his copy, as it unhappily now is both in our Hebrew and Samaritan copies.

with them, a cloud suddenly overshadowed him, and he disappeared, in a certain valley;* although he wrote in the holy books that he died; which was done out of fear lest they should venture to say, that because of his extraordinary virtue he went to God.

Now Moses lived in all one hundred and twenty years, a third part of which time, abating one month, he was the people's ruler. And he died in the last month of the year, which is called by the Macedonians Dystrus; but by us Adar; on the first day of the month. He was one that exceeded all men in understanding, and made the best use of what that understanding suggested to him. He had a very pleasing way of speaking, and addressing the multitude; and, as to his other qualifications, he had such a full command over his passions, as if he hardly had any such in his soul, and only knew them by their names; as rather perceiving them in other men, than in himself. He was also such a general of an army as is seldom seen, as well as such a prophet as was never known,|| and this to such a degree, that whatsoever he pronounced, you

* Deut. xxxiv. 6. But notwithstanding all this precaution of God, the Christians boast, that they have discovered the sepulchre, which had been kept secret for so many ages. For in the year 1655, some goats that were separated from the rest of the flock, went to feed in a certain place, in the mountain Nebo, and returned from thence so odoriferous and perfumed, that the shepherds, astonished at so wonderful a prodigy, ran presently to consult with the patriarch of the Maronites, who sent thither two monks from mount Lebanon, and they discovered a monument, on which was this inscription, Moses, the servant of the Lord. But there is too much reason to think that this is all a fiction, on purpose to raise the reputation of the Maronites; as Basnage, in his History and Religion of the Jews, has sufficiently proved, lib. 4. cap. 17. B.

↑ Deut. xxxiv. 7.

Nothing can be plainer from the text, than that Moses did die, and was really buried; nay, Josephus tells us, that the Scripture affirms, that he died lest people should think, because of the excellency of his person, that he was still alive, and with God. And yet, notwithstanding this, some of the Jewish doctors do positively affirm, that he was translated into heaven, where he stands and ministers before God: and of those who admit of his death, and that his soul and body were really separated, the major part will not allow that he died a common death; for their notion is, that his soul departed with a kiss, because he is said to die, al pi, at the mouth, (as is literally in the Hebrew, i. e according to the word) of God; but if there be any sense in the expression, it must be, that he parted with his sou with great cheerfulness and serenity of mind. Wilsius's Miscel. Iacra. B.

Deut. xxxiv. 10.

would think you heard the voice of God himself. So the people mourned for him thirty days.

Nor did ever any grief so deeply affect the Hebrews as did this upon the death of Moses. Nor were those that had experienced his conduct the only persons that desired him; but those also that perused the laws he left behind him had a strong desire after him, and by them gathered the extraordinary virtue he was master of. And this shall suffice for the declaration death of Moses.

of the manner of the

BOOK V.

Containing an Interval of Four Hundred and Seventy-six Years.

FROM THE DEATH OF MOSES TO THE DEATH OF ELI.

CHAP. I.

OF THE WAR CARRIED ON BY JOSHUA AGAINST THE CANAANITES, AND THE SIGNAL SUCCESSES OF THE HEBREWS.

WHEN Moses had been taken from among men, in the manner already described, and when all the solemnities belonging to the mourning for him were finished, Joshua commanded the multitude to get themselves ready for an expedition. He also sent spies to Jericho,* to discover what forces

* Josh. ii. 1. Jericho was a city of Canaan, which afterwards fell to the lot of the tribe of Benjamin, about seven leagues distant from Jerusalem, and two from Jordan. Moses calls it likewise the city of palm-trees, Deut. xxxiv. 3. because there were great numbers of them in the plains of Jericho; and not only of palm-trees, but as Josephus tells us, (Antiq. lib. 4 c. 5.) balsam-trees likewise, which produced the precious liquor in such bigh esteem among the ancients. The plain of Jericho was watered with a rivulet, which was formerly salt and bitter, but was afterward sweetened by the prophet Elisha, 2 Kings ii. 21, 22; whereupon the adjacent country, which was watered by it, became not only one of the most agreeable, but most fertile spots in all that country. As to the city itself, after it was destroyed by Joshua, it was in the days of Ahab, king of Israel, rebuilt by Hiel the Bethelite, 1 Kings xvi. 24. and in the times of the last kings of Judea, yielded to none except Jerusalem. For it was adorned with a royal palace, wherein Herod the Great died; with an hippodromus, or place where the Jewish nobility learn to ride the great horse, and other arts of chivalry, with an amphitheatre, and other magnificent buildings; but during the siege of Jerusalem, the treachery of its inhabitants provoked the Romans to destroy it. After the siege