Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

from the deputies, but evaded complying with their request, by assuring them that he durst not, on any account whatever, counteract the divine will. However, in order to amuse and flatter them with expectations, he desired them to tarry a little while he made farther inquiries of the Lord, and, if he thought proper to admit his going, he would readily attend them.

The Almighty had at first given Balaam a positive answer, and it was certainly the highest disobedience and presumption to attempt the reversing it by a farther application. However, blinded by covetousness and ambition, he again addressed himself to God, who (provoked at his obstinacy and presumption) was pleased to give him this answer: "If the men," said he, come to call thee, rise up and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do."

66

With this permission Balaam arose in the morning, and, saddling his ass, set forward with the messengers on their journey to Moab. On the road he was met by an angel with a drawn sword in his hand, whom, though he perceived not, his ass plainly saw, and being startled, turned aside in order to avoid him. With some difficulty Balaam beat his ass into the road again, soon after which the angel placed himself in a narrow passage between two walls which enclosed a vineyard. The ass, who was equally startled as before, not knowing how to avoid the angel, ran against one of the walls and crushed Balaam's foot, upon which he was so provoked that he beat him with great severity. At length the angel removed, and fixed himself in a place so very narrow that there was no possibility of passing him; upon which the ass made a full stop and fell beneath his rider. This enraged Balaam still more; and as he was beating the poor animal in the most unmerciful manner, God was pleased to give the ass the faculty of speech, who expostulated with his master on his severe treatinent in words to this effect: "What," said he, "have I done to thee, that thou shouldst beat me these three times ?"-“Because,” said Balaam, "thou hast deserved it in mocking me: had I a sword in my hand I would kill thee." The ass replied, "Am I not thine ass, upon which thou hast been accustomed to ride ever since I was thine; did I ever serve thee so before?"

While Balaam was thus conversing with his ass, God was pleased to open his eyes, and let him see the angel standing in the way, with a naked sword in his hand. Terrified at so unexpected a sight, Balaam fell on his face, acknowledged his offence, asked pardon for it, and offered, if his journey was displeasing to God, immediately

to return.

That his journey was displeasing to the Almighty he certainly could not be igno rant, because, in his first address, God had expressly interdicted his going. He was pleased, however, to suffer him to proceed, that some kind of advantage might be raised out of this man's wickedness, and to make him, who was hired to curse, the instrument of pronouncing a blessing on his people.

When Balak heard that Balaam was on the road, he went himself to receive him on the confines of his dominions. As soon as Balak saw him, he in a friendly manner blamed him for not coming at his first sending, which Balaam excused on account of the restraint that had been laid upon him by the Almighty. Balak then conducted him to his capital, where he that day publicly entertained him in the most sumptuous manner; and the next morning conducted him to the high places consecrated to the idol Baal, whence he might take an advantageous view of the camp of the Israelites.

After being here some short time, Balaam ordered seven altars to be erected, and seven oxen, together with the like number of rams, to be prepared for sacrifice. Balaam, having offered an ox and a ram on each altar, left Balak to stand by the sacrifices, while himself withdrew at some distance to consult the Lord. On his return he addressed the king, in the presence of the whole company, in words to this effect: "Thou hast caused me, O king," said he, "to come from out of the mountains of the east to curse the family of Jacob, and bid defiance to Israel. But how shall I curse those whom God hath not cursed? and how shall I defy those whom the Lord hath not defied? From the tops of the rocks I see their protector, and from the hills I behold him. Behold, this people shall be separated to God, and distinguished from all other people in religion, laws, and course of life: they shall not be reckoned among the nations." He then set forth the great prosperity and increase of the Israelites, and concluded by wishing that his lot, both in life and in death, might be like

[graphic][merged small]

unto theirs. "Let me die," said he, "the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

Balak, alarmed as well as incensed at these words, which were quite contrary to what he had expected, passionately said to Balaam, "What hast thou done? I sent for thee to curse mine enemies; but, instead thereof, thou hast blessed them." Balaam excused himself by urging the necessity of his instructions, from which, he said, it was not in his power at that time to make the least deviation.

Not discouraged at this rebuff, Balak, thinking that a change of place might produce a change of fortune, or better success, conducted Balaam to the top of Mount Pisgah, in order to try whether he could thence fulfil his wishes by cursing the Israelites.

Balaam, willing to please the king, had seven other altars erected here, and a bullock and ram offered on each. As soon as the sacrifices were ready he withdrew, as before, to consult the Lord, from whom he received fresh instructions. On his return to Balak and his attendants, the king, big with expectation of the result, asked what the Lord had spoken. Balaam, with the most serious countenance and solemn tone of voice, answered as follows: “Consider,” said he, “O Balak, thou son of Zippor, consider that God, who hath already blessed Israel, and forbidden me to curse them, is not like a man that he should renounce his promise, or repent of what he does. Hath he promised, and shall he not perform? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received commission to bless, and he hath blessed, and I can not reverse it. He does not approve of afflictions or outrages against the posterity of Jacob, nor of vexation or trouble against the posterity of Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is in him. God hath brought them out of Egypt; he hath, as it were, the strength of a unicorn. Surely no enchantment can prevail against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. So that, considering what God will work this time for the deliverance of his people, all the world shall wonder and say, What hath God wrought, who hath put his people out of the reach of fraud or force, and turned the intended curse into a blessing! And to show their future strength and success, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift themselves up as a young lion. They shall not lie down until they eat of the prey, and drink of the blood of the slain."

Balak was so mortified at this speech that, in the height of his passion, he forbade Balaam either to bless or curse; but after his indignation was somewhat abated he changed his mind, and desired him to make a farther trial at another place. Accordingly, Balaam was conducted to the top of Mount Peor, where fresh altars were raised and fresh sacrifices offered; but all to no purpose. Balaam well knew the positive will of God in this case was to bless, and not to curse. He did not therefore, as before, retire for farther instructions, but, casting his eyes on the tents of the Israelites, thus exclaimed: "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!" He then, in proper and significant metaphors, foretold their extent, fertility, and strength, and that "those that blessed them should be blessed, and those that cursed them should be cursed."

Balak, curaged to hear Balaam, whom he had sent for to curse the Israelites, thus three times successively bless them, could no longer contain himself, but, clasping his hands together, bade ban haste and be gone, since, by his folly, he had both abused God and defrauded himself. "I thought," said he, "to have promoted thee to great honor, if thou hadst answered my design in cursing Israel; but the Lord hath hindered thy preferment."

Balaam, in excuse, made use of the same arguments he had done before, namely, that he could not run counter to the divine commands, but must speak what the Lord had put into his mouth. He then, in expectation of obtaining some reward from the king, notwithstanding he had not answered the purposes for which he was sent, offered to advertise him of what the Israelites would do to his people in subsequent ages; which being accepted by Balak, he prophesied as follows: "That a star should come forth from Jacob, and a rod from Israel; that it should smite the chiefs of Moab, and destroy the children of Seth; that Edom should fall under its power; that the Amalekites should be totally destroyed, and the Kenites made captives." Having said this Balaam left the king, but without receiving any reward, as he had expected, for his predictions. Vexed at this disappointment, and considering the Israelites as the occasion of it, he determined to wreak his vengeance on them. He

175

knew that their prosperity depended on their strict observance of the divine laws and that there was no way to bring a curse on them but by seducing them from their duty. To accomplish, therefore, his wicked design, he advised both the Moabites and Midianites to send their daughters into the camp of the Israelites, that they might first entice the people into lewdness, and then into idolatry; by doing of which they would infallibly be deprived of that divine assistance that had hitherto protected them.

This wicked stratagem, being highly approved of by the Moabites and Midianites, was immediately put into execution, and in some measure attended with the wishedfor success. Many of the Israelites were deluded by these strange women, not only o commit whoredom with them, but also idolatry, by assisting at their sacrifices, and worshipping their gods, even their god Baal-peor.

These offences were highly displeasing to God, who, as a punishment on the people, commanded Moses to take the chiefs of those who had worshipped Baal-peor, and hang them up in the sight of the people, without paying respect either to friendship or kindred. This was accordingly done, and the number that suffered was about one thousand. But the divine justice did not stop here, for those who had committed whoredom were visited with a dreadful plague, which in a short time carried off no less than twenty-four thousand persons.

These severe punishments opened the eyes of the sinful Israelites, who assembled at the door of the tabernacle, and, with the most expressive sense of affliction, bewailed their folly and wickedness in suffering themselves to have been deluded by a strange people who were their mortal enemies.

While the whole congregation were thus situated at the door of the tabernacle, they were surprised with an instance of the most unparalleled boldness and depravity in one of the chiefs of the tribe of Simeon, named Zimri, who, in the sight of Moses and all the people, brought with him a young Midianitish princess, named Cozbi, into the camp, and, with all the actions of gallantry, conducted her to his tent.

This impious as well as insolent behavior particularly engaged the attention of Phineas, the son of Eleazer the high-priest, who, fired with a just indignation, suddenly arose, and taking a javelin in his hand, ran to Zimri's tent, and put a period to their lives, by running them both through the body at the same instant.

peo

After this zealous act of Phineas, the plague, which God had sent among ple for their lewdness and impiety, ceased. And Phineas not only received the highthe est commendation for his conduct among the people, but also from God, who was pleased to appoint a perpetual settlement of the priesthood on him and his posterity. The disorders among the Israelites being thoroughly quelled, and the offenders punished, Moses by the direction of God, proceeded to take vengeance on the Midianites, who, by their conduct, had been the authors of the late calamities among the people. He ordered a detachment to be made out of 12,000 choice men, a thousand out of each tribe, whom he sent against the Midianites. Among them was the zealous Phineas, who took with him the ark, together with the sacred trumpets, the latter of which were to be blown, during the time of action, to animate the people.

The army of the Israelites was but small compared with the great numbers they had to oppose; but God, who put them on the expedition, was pleased to crown their attempts with such success, that conquest took place wherever they went. They vanquished five kings, whom, with their men, they put all to the sword. Among the slain was the wicked prophet Balaam,* who, though he had before escaped the sword of the angel, could not now avoid the common danger, but fell a victim to his own baseness.

In every city where the Israelites made a conquest, they destroyed not only the fortified places but likewise all the buildings, took all the women and children prisoners, and seized on their cattle, flocks, and goods.

The Israelites, having thus vanquished their enemies, and loaded themselves with the spoils of conquest, returned in triumph to the camp, where they were met by Moses, Eleazer the high-priest, and all the elders of the different tribes, who congratulated them on the occasion, and the people testified their joy by the loudest acclamations.

It is evident, from this circumstance, that if Balaamn did return to his own country when he left Balak, he did not continue long there; but it is much more probable that he never did return, but dwelt with the princes of Midian, in order to give them counsel.

But when Moses saw the women captives, remembering what damage they had done by alluring the Israelites into idolatry, he thought it unsafe that their lives should be spared. He therefore ordered that all those who had ever known man, together with all the male children, should be put to the sword, and none but virgins be saved alive. These orders were accordingly executed, and (as a proof of the importance of the victory) the number of virgin captives amounted to two and thirty thousand.

After this Moses gave orders that the conquerors should abide seven days without the camp, and that both the soldiers and spoils should pass through the ceremonies of a legal purification.

When the time of purification was expired, Moses, by the command of God, took an account of the whole booty that had been taken from the Midianites. This he divided into two equal parts, one of which he gave to the soldiers who had taken it, and the other half to the rest of the people who stayed at home. Out of the division given to the soldiers he ordered a five hundredth part to be paid as a tribute to Eleazer the high-priest, as a heave-offering to the Lord; and out of the other part allotted to the people, a fiftieth, both of persons and beasts, to be given to the Levites.

The plunder of cattle and flocks consisted of 670,500 sheep, 72,000 oxen, and 61,000 asses, besides a great quantity of rich goods and ornaments. And, what makes the victory still more miraculous is, that not one man among the Israelites was slain in the battle, as appeared from the report afterward made on a general muster of the whole that went out to war.

The officers of the army were sensible that, in saving the Midianitish women, they had committed a great transgression. They therefore presented a prodigious quantity of jewels, and other rich spoils, both as an expiatory offering to atone for their offence, and in gratitude to God's goodness for having given them so great and signal a victory. The Israelites were now in possession of all that part of the country which lay on the east side of the river Jordan. It was a very fertile spot, and stored with good pasturage, in consequence of which the tribes of Reuben and Gad, together with the half-tribe of Manasseh, requested of Moses that they might be permitted to settle there, it being particularly commodious for the feeding of their flocks and cattle.

Moses, thinking this request arose from their pusillanimity, and that they were desirous of continuing in a country ready gained, and thereby avoid giving their assistance in farther conquests, was exceeding angry, and blamed them for offering a proposal so discouraging to the rest of the tribes. They told him they had no other reason for wishing to continue where they were than what they had already advanced, and that though they were desirous of settling there with their families, yet they wished not to decline the fatigues of war. They promised, in the most solemn manner, that a quota should go with the army into the land of Canaan, and contribute all the assistance they were able in reducing that country which had been so long promised, and that when these matters were accomplished, and not till then, would they desire to return to their families in the plains of Moab. On this reason, and on these promises, Moses told them their request should be granted.

As the Israelites were now in the neighborhood of Canaan, and the time very near of their entering that country to take possession of it, Moses called a general assembly of the people, to whom he enumerated the several stations and removes they had made from the time of their leaving the land of Goshen in Egypt, till their arrival in the plains of Moab. He then, by the direction of God, pointed out the limits of what they were to conquer, and appointed the distribution of the whole among the different tribes to be by lot, assigning the chief management of it to Eleazer the high-priest, and Joshua, the general of his army.

In the division of the country Moses assigned forty-eight cities, together with their suburbs, to be inhabited by the Levites, and withal ordered, that six of them should be made cities of refuge, whither the innocent manslayer, who had killed his neighbor by chance, might betake himself, and where he should remain in safety till the death of the high-priest, when he was at full liberty to go where he pleased with equal safety as when in the city of refuge. At the same time Moses made all proper provision that the wilful murderer should certainly be put to death. But in this, and all other capital cases, he made it a law that none should be convicted upon the evidence of any single person. A law was likewise made, that every daughter who should possess an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel should be married to one of the tribes of his father, that so the Israelites might every one enjoy the in

« AnteriorContinua »