CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE ISRAELITES AT HAZEROTH-MIRIAM AND AARON SEDITIOUS -MOSES, HIS LORD, AND AARON, PUNISH MIRIAM—THEY TAKE THE STARCH OUT OF HER-THEN THEY RESTORE HER TO HER FORMER POSITION.

"And the people journeyed from Kibroth-Hattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth."

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[Num. XI: 35. "And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses, because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. And they said, Hath the Lord indeed only spoken by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it. And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out.

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And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again." [Num. XII: 1, 2, 4, 9, 10, 15.

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SECTION 1. From the time that Moses led the Israelites forth from the wilderness of Sinai until they pitched tent in Hazeroth, only a few weeks intervened; but, during those weeks very much transpired in connection with their movement. There was one embryo civil war in the camp, between the friends and special defenders of Moses, and those of the people who were dissatisfied with Moses' conduct and complained of his treatment toward them. In this embroilment many of the people were killed-the emeute was general throughout the camp. The record says "The fire of the Lord (the enkindled party spirit and fervent zeal of Moses' special defenders) burnt among them, (those of the people who complained of Moses' treatment,) and consumed (killed) them that were in the uttermost parts (in

every part) of the camp." On appeal made to Moses by the persecuted masses, this slaughter, by his friends, through his influence was staid. (See Num. XI: 1-3.) SEC. 2. Immediately succeeding the suppression of the aforesaid riotous and murderous conduct of Moses' zealous partisans, there arose in the camp another difficulty, in character somewhat of the nature of the former. This, first, was visible among "the mixed multitude," then it became general throughout the camp of Israel. The record says: "And the children of Israel wept again." This time, every man was heard weeping in the door of his own tent. On the former occasion the Israelites were open in their expressions of complaint, also in their expressions of their sorrows, by weeping-they then wept publicly. But the murderous onslaught made on them for this, by the combined zealots of Moses, taught them that only in secret could their griefs be expressed and the burdens of their souls be permitted to escape in audible sounds. The record shows that it was in their secret places where the mousing espionage of Moses, this time, caught the people weeping, and for which secret expressions of suppressed, aggrieved, and overburdened humanity Moses was displeased and his Lord was angry. Judging of these matters by the statements of the record, this difficulty merged into, and ended in, the quail story, which was the subject of the last Chapter, and need not be rehearsed here.

SEC. 3. In the face of all the formidable opposition of the people of Israel, Moses did not, at any time, swerve from his original purposes, that of being Absolute Ruler over the people, and of prosecuting his filibustering campaign against the Canaanites. He maintained his position, as was shown in a former Chapter, by resorting to, and use of, the same expedients as are resorted to for like purposes by the political demagogues of the present day, namely: pet the light-brained and weak-kneed of the people's acknowledged leading men-feed them with the heartless smiles of tyranny, and small sucks of governmental power,

in outside positions. The seventy "elders" of this class here designated, selected by Moses from the people's numbers, to serve as his toadies, and against the people, ruined their cause in these struggles against the arbitrary rule of Moses, and perpetuated his authority over them. Thus circumventing the people, and over-riding all the aforesaid obstacles to his progress, Moses leads the Israelites forward to Hazeroth and pitches tent, and tarries there for a time. It is what transpired at this place, between Moses and those who were, in some measure, associated with him, that is to be the principal subject of this Chapter; though, in the foregoing preliminary, I have digressed somewhat.

SEC. 4. After Moses had accomplished all that he desired, in quelling disturbances, suppressing the open complainings of the people, and in crushing the entire manhood out of the masses of the Israelites-reducing them to mere machines to be used as he desired, and at his pleasure-then there arose new troubles for him to encounter, that of marked disrespect for his family, and public expressions of contempt and disregard of his authority by those who were members of his cabinet-junto-rather, for such he had from the first of his movements in leading the Israelites. There were, at least, a trio in that cabal. Not only by Moses' own record is this fact evinced, but the acknowledged prophet Micah, (Mic. vi: 4,) verifies the fact. In speaking of what the Lord had done for the people of Israel, he says: "I (the Lord) sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." Never did any individual arise from obscurity, and attain great eminence in ruling authority over the masses, except he had confidential advisers who coöperated with him-accomplices in his operations. Aaron, Moses' brother, and Miriam, his sister, were Moses' confidential coöperators. Miriam and Aaron, unitedly, say: "Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us ?" "And the Lord heard it," and he did not deny their asseveration; hence, they were acknowledged by the Lord to be joint members of the secret council with Moses.

SEC. 5. Further evidence that these were Moses' confi. dential coöperators is evinced in the fact that Aaron was his chief drill-master, and his principal fugler in drilling the male portion of the Israelites; and that Miriam was an official of like character, and like efficient in the drilling of the female portion of those tribes. What was adopted in their secret sessions, for public action, these two fuglers of Moses enacted openly before the people, and inspired them to echo and reecho the same. If it became necessary, to the accomplishing of their joint purposes for their Lord to speak to the people, audibly, from the dark recesses of the mountain, Aaron was there to give the required intonations. If, for the same object, it was advantageous to chant their party songs in the female ranks, and through this performance do honors to Moses, their acknowledged leader, and thereby divinitize his exploits in the eyes of the people, Miriam was on hand, and "led the chorus of the women;" and with "her timbrel in her hand," she led on the dances, ultimating in honor of her, brother, as being a divinely inspired leader of the children of Israel. Further proof that the new trouble was not only in the royal family, but in the cabinet council of Moses, is not needed to substantiate the position.

SEC. 6. The ostensible, or first, ground of complaint, of Miriam and Aaron, against their brother, was because he had taken to himself, for a wife, an Arabian woman. But, it is far more probable that Moses' assumptions of authority which they thought were encroachments upon their prerogatives were the greater cause of this break in that royal family. Only a few days before this division took place, Moses had selected from the people's ranks "seventy elders," and installed them in positions of ruling authority—made an essential change in the government of the body-without consulting Aaron and Miriam in the matter. They had been the admitted members of the ruling junto; their common Lord had honored them as such, and they felt them. selves slighted, snubbed, by Moses, by that act. Hence,

disrespect to them and disregard for what they deemed to be their inherent right, and their acknowledged prerogative, followed on their part, by jealousy of his despotic rule, and his aggressive acts towards them, was the principal cause of Miriam's and Aaron's apparent opposition to Moses. With this view of the text, in the main, expositors of it, generally, coincide.

SEC. 7. By the recorded narrative of this transaction, it appears that, instead of Aaron leading in this seditionary movement, or opposition to Moses' acts, he only seconded Miriam in her open strictures of him, and upon his conduct; and, that in her denunciations of him she was not sparing of words, neither did she utter them in secret-with her tongue she castigated him freely and openly; and, by his acts, Aaron responded, Amen, to her words and her conduct. Hence, because of the publicity of Miriam's declarations, came, "suddenly," the order from their common Lord-Moses being his oracle on this occasion, the same as on other occasions-for Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam, to repair, at once, to the secret chamber of the tabernacle. This was Moses' Inquisitorial cloister, and from which no leading offender who had been drawn in, or forced to enter, ever escaped without having made to Moses humiliating confession, except it was to suffer greater degradation by doing penance at his bidding, and as he dictated.

SEC. 8. The power that dictated all of Moses' movements -and that was himself-too well understood the influence of open truthful declarations, made by those who knew whereof they affirmed, to allow such to be made, with impunity, in the camp of Israel, if such asseverations were not made to glorify Moses, or for the advancement of his interests. Religious toleration, and freedom of speech, were things as foreign to Moses' entire policy as is vice from virtue, or as is discordance from harmony. No tyrant, either civil or religious, that has ever cursed the world of mankind with his tyranny, was more intolerant and deadly hostile to these heaven-born prerogatives—prerogatives that