The burning of incense within the sanctuary took place at the same time that the morning and evening sacrifices were laid upon the altar without. It was also a part of the daily service to trim the lamps of the golden candlestick. From our version, it would seem, that the lamps were put out in the day time, and burnt all night; but it may well be questioned whether this is correct. The original word means "to cause to ascend," that is, to trim the lamps so as to cause the light to rise. And as the tabernacle had no window, the light of the lamps was as much needed in the day as in the night, and more, because the service performed in the sanctuary was all required to be done during the day.

SECTION XXX.

TABLES OF THE LAW.

MOSES having been called up to the sacred mount, was kept there for no less than thirty days, during which time he did neither eat nor drink. Here God communed with him face to face, as a man with his friend. "And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him, upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." "The tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables."

The people becoming impatient at the long delay of Moses on the mount, insisted on it that Aaron should make them gods to go before them. To this impious proposal, Aaron, through fear, too readily acceded, and directed them to bring him their ear-rings, out of which he made a golden calf; which when they saw, they exclaimed, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." Aaron directed an altar to be built for it, and proclaimed a feast to the Lord, for the ensuing day. "And they rose up early and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play." The Lord now commanded Moses to go down, as the people had grossly corrupted themselves, and had made themselves a calf and worshipped it; and the Lord proposed to Moses that he would destroy this stiff-necked people, and make a great nation of him; but this disinterested man preferred the glory of God to his own advantage. "And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt,

with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of, will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever." This earnest prayer and expostulation had the desired effect, "for the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people." And Moses went down unto the people with the two tables of testimony in his hand. And Joshua, who was with him said, "There is the voice of war in the camp." "And he

said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, nor the cry of those that are overcome.' And when Moses drew near, he saw the calf, and the people dancing around it; "and his anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it." Moses then upbraided Aaron for what he had done; who excused himself by alleging the perverseness of the people. He then stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him." Moses commanded them to gird on their swords, and to pass through the camp, "and slay every man his brother, and every man his neighbour, and every man his companion. And the sons of Levi did so; "and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother, that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day." Moses after this expression of holy indignation, went to the Lord and entreated him to pardon the sin of the people; and in the disinterested fervency of his spirit, he went so far as to say, "If thou wilt not forgive their sin, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book, which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whoever sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. And the Lord plagued the people because they made the calf which Aaron made."

And the Lord directed Moses to hew two tables of stone like unto the first, and said, "I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest. And be ready in the morning, and come up to mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with thee; neither let any man be seen through

all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before the mount." And Moses did as he was commanded. "And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty: visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third, and to the fourth generation." "And Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped."

And the Lord communed with Moses on the mount; and repeated to him some of the laws which had before been given; "and he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread nor drink water." And when Moses came down from the mount, with the tables of testimony in his hand, he was not aware that the skin of his face shone; but when Aaron and all the people saw him, they were afraid to come nigh him. Moses called unto them; and he put a veil on his face while he talked with them: "And he gave them in commandment, all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai." When Moses went in before the Lord, he took the veil off until he came out. And when he spake to the people, he put the veil again upon his face, "And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone."

SECTION XXXI.

DEPARTURE FROM MOUNT SINAI-ORDER OF MARCH.

BEFORE they began their march, Moses received orders to make two silver trumpets, for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps. When they sounded both trumpets it was a signal for the assembling of the whole congregation; but when the princes only were to be convened, they blew upon one of the trumpets only. When they blew an alarm, or made a broken sound with the trumpets, the eastern part of the camp was to go forward; upon a second alarm, the southern part of the camp were to put themselves in motion. The blowing on these trumpets was at all times made the duty of the priests; and they were to be sounded when the people went to war; and also in days of rejoicing; and particularly, at the commencement of every month, when the priests were commanded to blow the trumpets over the sacrifices which were then offered. It was on the twentieth day of the second month, in the

second year, that the signal for marching was given, by the taking up the cloud from off the tabernacle of the testimony. "And the children of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran."

In the first rank marched the tribe of Judah with Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, as their leader.

Then Issachar, whose chief captain was Nathaneel, the son of Zuar.

Then Zebulun, whose leader was Eliab, the son of Helon.

These three tribes marched in the front, before the tabernacle, which was borne after them by the sons of Gershon and Merari.

Then marched the tribe of Reuben, led on by Elizur, the son of Shedeur.

After him came the tribe of Simeon, whose captain was Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai.

And next the tribe of Gad, over which was Eliasaph, the son of Deuel.

Then came the Kohathites bearing the ark and other holy vessels of the sanctuary, in the centre of the camp.

Behind the Kohathites, and next in order, marched the tribe of Ephraim, over which was Elishama, the son of Ammihud. And Manasseh led on by Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur.

Next marched Benjamin, whose leader was Abidan, the son of Gideoni.

Then followed the tribe of Dan, over which was Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai.

And Asher, whose leader was Pagiel, the son of Ocran. And Naphtali brought up the rear, whose leader was Ahira, the son of Enan.

This order of march was uniformly observed at all times; during all their journeyings through the wilderness.

SECTION XXXII.

MOSES' INVITATION TO HOBAB.

"AND Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel, the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, We are journeying unto a place, of which the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. And he said unto him, I will not go, but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred. And he said, leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest, we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead

of eyes. And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee." Although it is not said here whether Hobab, which seems to be another name for Jethro, went along with his son-in-law or not, yet his offering no further objection gives ground for the inference, that he did. And that this was the fact, can be ascertained from what is said in the first chapter of Judges, where we read, "And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees, with the children of Judah, into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad: and they went and dwelt among the people."

After leaving Sinai, the Israelites marched three days before they came to a resting-place; "And the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them, to search out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day when they went out of the camp. When the ark set forward, Moses was accustomed to employ the following solemn prayer, "Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate thee flee before thee." And when it rested, he used the following, "Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel."

The prospect was now, that in a short time the Israelites would have been at the end of their journey; and doubtless this would have been the event, if they had not rebelled against the Lord. So, when the time came for their departure from Horeb, the Lord said, "Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount. Turn ye, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereto, in the plains, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea-side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, and unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before you, go in and possess the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give it to them and to their seed after them."

SECTION XXXIII.

THE PEOPLE REBEL AGAINST MOSES-A BURNING SENT AMONG THEM THE LORD PUTS HIS SPIRIT ON THE ELDERS.

NOTWITHSTANDING all the miracles which they had witnessed, and all the wonderful deliverances which they had experienced, the people continued to murmur and complain; and the anger of the Lord was again kindled against them; "and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp." And when the peo