which was made by Mofes and Eleazer, in the Plains of Moab, Thirty-eight Years afterwards, we find the fame Limitation and Exception, Numbers XXVI. 2. and in the 62 verfe. For they (i. e. the Levites) were not numbred among the Children of Ifrael, because there was no Inheritance given them among the Children of Ifrael : For they only were to be numbred of the Congregation of the Children of Ifrael, to whom the Land of Canaan was to be divided for an Inheritance, as in verfe 53.

It is very plain from the Places before cited, That as in the terrible Commination of Dying in the Wilderness, and being Excluded from Canaan, recorded in the XIV Chap; fo in the awful Execution of that Sentence recorded in the XXVI Chapter, the two laft verfes, the Levites were not included.

To begin with the Sentence in the XIV Chapter; more efpecially those words in the 29th verfe, Your Carcaffes Spall fall in this Wilderness, and all that were numbred of you according to your whole number from twenty Years old and upward, which have Murmured against Me, fall not come into the Land,&c. Can any thing be plainer,than that the Perions Convict and Condemned were only those that were numbred from twenty Years old and upwards, (viz. by Mofes and Aaron;) and was there One Levite amongst them?

And the matter is full as ull as clear after the Sentence was executed, Chapter XXVI, and the two laft verfes: But among thefe there was not a Man of them whom Mofes and

Aaron

Aaron the Priest numbred, when they numbred the Children of Ifrael in the Wildernefs of Sinai. For the LORD had faid of THEM, they fball furely dye in the Wilderness, and there was not left a Man of THEM, fave GALEB the Son of Jephunneb, and JOSHUA the Son of Nun. Thus the Execution answered exactly the Sentence; All thofe, and they only, were Executed that had been Condemned; For the Judge of all the Earth will do right.

Here alfo may be fubjoyned the before cited, Deuteronomy, Chap. II. verses 14, 15, 16. And the space in which we came from Kadefb Barnea, until we were come over the Brook Zered, was thirty and eight Years, until all the Generation of the MEN OF WAR, were wafted out from among the Hoft, as the LORD Sware unto them for indeed the Hand of the LORD was against them to deftroy them from among the Hoft until they were confumed: fo it came to pass, when all the MEN OF WAR were confumed and dead from among the People, &c. These words are fo plain in favour of the Levites, that they need no Commentary or Inference.

Upon the whole,it can by no means be maintained, That no other Men entred Canaan that were twenty Years of Age at their coming out of Egypt, fave JOSHUA and CALEB, as the Learned Author of the Chronological Connection, &c. afferts. All that can be safely said is, That of 603550 effective Men of the Age of twenty Years and upwards, that were Polled at Mount Sinai by Mofes and

Aaron,

Aaron, in the second Year after their coming out of Egypt, viz. of the Tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Ifachar, Zebulon, Ephraim, Manaffeb, Benjamin, Dan, Albur Gad and Napthali, none of this mighty Hoft went into Canaan, but JOSHUA and CALE B. The Carcaffes of all the reft fell in the Wilderness. edt

1

As to the Tribe of LEVI, or the Levites, their Sum or Number, was taken twice. In the First Poll, all the Males of a Month Old, and upward, were counted, in order to make an Equivalent for all the first born in Ifrael: This firft number of Levites amounted to 22000; Numbers Chap.III. The fecond Poll of this Tribe, was of Men fit for the service of the Tabernacle, viz. between the Age of Thirty and Fifty, and amounted to 8580, Chap. IV. Thefe Numberings, for what appears were Contemporary with the first General Numbring of the Children of Ifrael: If so, we can't allow lefs than 10000 Men of the Tribe of Levi,of the Age of twenty Years and upward, at the time of the fatal Sentence aforefaid; for that was pafs'd in the fame Year the Children of Ifrael were firft numbred; fo that it is not only confiftent with the facred Hiftory,but highly probabler that even Thousands of LEVITES of the Age of twentyï Years and upwards, at the time of the Children of Ifraels coming out of Egypt, went Triumphantly into Canaan with JOSHUA and CALEBtion of opti oqadɔ

I fhall now Confider, and Anfwer the two principal Places relyed on, in favour of the common Opinion. H

I. The

1. The first is Numbers XIV. v. 2. ALL the Children of Ifrael Murmured against Mofes, &c. Verfe 10. ALL the Congregation bad Stone them with Stones: And verfe 22. Becauses ALL these Men which have feen my Glory, &c. furely they fball not see the Land, & From hence, it is argued, That the Levites were part of the Congrega tion, and fo among the Murmurers, and therefore came under the Sentence of Exclufion as well as the reft.

isbio u „batnudɔ 915.7 bi 5

To this it is Anfwered,

MOAN

Sol. 1. That the whole Chapter being taken together (as it ought 'twill appear, who the Murmurers, or Mu tineers were: For tho' in the 27th. verfe it be faid, I bave beard the Murmurings of the Children of Ifrael, Indefinitely; yet in the 29th verfe, we have plainly a Restriction; for the Words are, Your Carcasses sball fall in this Wildernefs, and ALL THAT WERE NUMBERED of you, according to your whole number from twenty Years old and upward, which have murmured againfi me, &c. So that if GOD himself, who was the Judge, charged the Mutiny or Murmuring only upon thofe that were Numbered in the first Mufter by Mofes and Aaron at Mount Sinai, viz. from twenty Years old and upwards; who fhall charge it upon the Levites, who were not in that Roll?

2. It is plain from the Hiftory, that the Evil Report brought of the Land of Canaan by the Spies, or those

Men

Men` that were fent by Mofes to fearch out the Land, was the next and great Occafion of that Murmuring and Mutiny of the Children of Ifrael, which excluded them the promis'd Land: Now the Tribe of Levi had no Representative among thofe Spies, as may be feen at large in the XIII Chap. of Numbers, where the Spies and the feveral Tribes they were refpectively taken from, are express'd by Name. And therefore, however it might Fare with any particular Levite (if any fuch there were) concern'd in that Rebellion, yet the Tribe of LEVI, as a Tribe, coull not in justice fall under the terrible Sentence of Exclufion, In like manner, had the Tribes of Judah and Ephraim diftinguished themselves on this Occafion, and stood by the Report of Caleb and ofhua, who were fent and inftructed by them, it is probable they had likewife been Exempted: but instead of that, the Principals of thefe Tribes, viz. Fudab and Ephraim, bafely deferted them, and turned over to the other Ten Spies, and therefore were justly involved in the fame common ruin.

3. Befides which, it is very unlikely, that the Levites who had but a little before, viz. in the Business of the Golden Calf, diftinguished themselves from the Reft of the Congregation, by appearing with Mofes on the LORD's fide; or as the Expreffion is, Confecrated themselves that day unto the LORD, and thereby obtained a Bleffing"; I fay it is very unlikely, that they should to foon after engage in thisMutiny,and be found among the Murmurers;

H 2

efpecially