SEC. 2. Before proceeding further, I would remark, that the statements of Moses, recorded in Numbers, concerning the route traveled by the Israelites, and the number and localities of their encampings, between Zered and Jordan, and his statements concerning the same as recorded in Deuteronomy, are not only obscure, but they are conflicting, and totally irreconcilable. Enough, however, can be gathered from either of the said books to substantiate the fact that their route was a considerable distance to the east of the Dead Sea. In the matter of these historical data the truth in the premises cannot be ascertained from the Pentateuch, alone, because of the conflicting testimony it bears. Hence the exercise of common sense must give the interpretation to the record, else the investigator will be inextricably engulfed in error.

SEC. 3. According to Numbers, after the Israelites passed Almon-diblathaim, and over the river Arnon, they touched at Beer-this place was in "the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites." Then they traveled from this wilderness to Mattanah; thence to Nahaliel; thence to Bemoth; thence to the hills of Abarim and place of their encampment at the foot of Nebo. After crossing the river Arnon, the waters of which fell into the Dead Sea on the east, they were in the country ruled by the Amorites-at that time the Arnon was the boundary line between the Amorites and the kingdom of Moab. Formerly the Moabites possessed the country much farther north; and portions of the Amorite country, at that time, were called "the plains of Moab”—“the valley of Moab." According to the record, Num. XXXII: 49, mount Nebo stood in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho, yet it was in the country taken by the Israelites from Sihon, king of the Amorites.

SEC. 4. Some writers have held that the "messengers' were not sent unto Sihon until after the Israelites had pitched in the hills of Abarim, at the foot of Nebo. If this was so, then the "words of peace," or message, sent was simply a taunt and insult to the king, for this encampment

was well nigh in the center of his kingdom. But, says the objector, in Deut. II: 26, it is said that the messengers were sent out of the wilderness of Kedemoth, and there was a city called by that name which lay considerably to the north of the river Arnon. However true this may have been about the locality of the city of Kedemoth, the wilderness called by that name may have, and probably did, extend north to the Arnon, and beyond it, even. It is not a consistent view of the question to say that Moses, or Israel, sent messengers to the king from the center of his territory which they had invaded, and in a body had reached, asking permission of him to pass peaceably through the remaining half of his kingdom. As stated above, the record says the Arnon was the southern boundary of the country of the Amorites; and their encampment in the mountains of Abarim was half, or more, the distance from the Arnon to the ford where the children of Israel crossed the Jordan. Unquestionably, the messengers were sent from the camp of Israel from the south side of the Arnon, and the wilderness of Kedemoth, so called, extended even to the south of that river.

SEC. 5. In reply to his "words of peace" Moses received from Sihon a negative answer-" he would not let them pass." But, according to Moses' statement, his Lord told him to give Sihon battle, and begin to possess his land. And according to this authority, he said to Moses:

"Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle."

It is evident from this that Moses' messengers were sent before he crossed the Arnon, and that he entered the territory of Sihon with intent to bring him to battle, overrun his country, and despoil him and his people of all their possessions. Taking the record itself, logically interpreted, as evidence in the case, all Moses' declarations about "words of peace," sent to Sihon, were shams, or fabrications, and

for the purpose of hiding his iniquities from the eyes of after generations.

SEC. 6. The record further says:

"Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones of every city, we left none to remain. Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took."

The cattle of the country and the property of the cities plundered and carried off, and all the men, women, and children, exterminated-"destroyed "-very little was there left with which to recuscitate the country. This was the devastation strown from the Arnon to the Jabbok-from the southern to the northern boundary of the kingdom of Sihon-by Moses, and the Israelites acting under his direction. The Lord, who told Moses to plunder a nation, and exterminate the people, was the same Lord who called out, at first, this prince of filibusters-it was his own unsanctified nature that ordered him to pillage and slaughter a people who stood in the way preventing him attaining the objects of his ambition.

SEC. 7. A word as to the locality of Jahaz, mentioned above. Jahaz, the place where Sihon attacked the Israelites, and where it is said he was slain and his army repulsed, was far within the outer limits of the country of the Amorites, every way; hence the war was aggressive on the part of Moses. A few words about Sihon's right to prohibit Moses marching an army across his territory, for the purpose of despoiling nations contiguous to him; this was the favor asked of him by Moses. By national law, each nation, untrammeled by treaty stipulations, (which was Sihon's condition,) possesses the right to forbid all armies, which entertain hostile intentions towards a nation, or the people of a nation, contiguous to it, passing through its domain. And whenever it becomes necessary, in order to maintain justice and the peace of nations, to exterminate invaders of neutral territory, who entertain such intentions, if the

neutral government invaded possesses the requisite military force, it is its prerogative, and duty, to exterminate such invaders. Hence, Sihon did right in the eye of the law of nations, and no more than was his duty, in his unsuccessful attempt to drive back and expel Moses and the Israelites from his territory.

CHAPTER XLVII.

MOSES INVADES THE TERRITORY OF OG, KING OF BASHAN—OG AND HIS MEN SLAIN IN BATTLE-THE ISRAELITES SLAUGHTER HIS PEOPLE, SACK HIS CITIES, AND DEVASTATE HIS COUNTRY.

"And they turned, and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to the battle at Edrei. And the Lord said unto Moses, Fear him not; for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left alive: and they possessed his land." [Num. XXI: 33, 34, 35.

SECTION 1. It was shown in the last Chapter that the war with Sihon and his people was aggressive on the part of Moses and his people; that the Amorites, men, women, and children, all who were killed by those prowling invaders, were slaughtered within the boundaries of their own country, and when that filibustering party was on its way to destroy nations, and despoil peoples who had never done them the least injustice. The texts quoted above show a like unprovoked and aggressive war made by Moses on Og, king of Bashan, and his people and country. In narrating the acts of Moses and his bands of warriors, after they had taken Jazzar, the place last taken from the Amorites over whom Sihon ruled, these texts say: "Then we turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei."

SEC. 2. The country of Bashan did not lie in the path of the Israelites between the land of the Amorites, or dominion of Sihon, and the land of Canaan, where it was