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these practices were sanctioned by the Arabian lawgiver; and this will also enable us to distinguish the difference in the means by which the same or nearly the same apparent end was sought to be attained. We quote the Mischat-ulMasabih, which is more full on the subject than the Koran, and of equal authority in Mohammedan law. We condense, in our own words, where necessary. Wilful murder, adultery, and apostacy, are the only crimes for which a Moslem ought to be punished with death. Fathers are not to be punished for the crimes of their children, nor children for those of their parents, either in this world or in futurity. This clearly discountenances the hereditary blood-feuds which we have noticed. And this indeed is still more expressly said in the Koran itself, where the avenger is told "not to exceed the bounds of moderation in putting to death the murderer in too cruel a manner, or by revenging his friend's blood on any other than the person that killed him." The law allowing compromise is:-" He who kills another intentionally, shall be given up to the family of the killed; then if they wish it they may kill him in retaliation; and if they like it they may take Diät (the price of blood) from him; which is one hundred camels, thirty of four years old, thirty of five years old, and forty with young: and he may make his peace with them for less if he can." Again:-"Whoever is killed or wounded, then his family, if the former, and himself if but the latter, has an option of one of these three things: he may either take retaliation, or forgive, or take Diät: but then, if he wishes any other thing besides these three: -for example, if he has forgiven, and afterwards asked for retaliation or Diät, then for him is the fire everlasting." Further on mercy is thus inculcated:-"There is no man who is wounded, and pardons the giver of the wound, but God will exalt his dignity and diminish his faults." The fine for accidental homicide is very severe, being one hundred camels, forty with young. We see the same apparent severity, differently exhibited, in the law of the text; and in both instances it was probably intended, not only to inculcate a respect for the life of man, but to lessen the inducement for the blood-avenger to pursue his victim beyond the adequate punishments thus provided. It is afterwards explained that the price of blood might be paid with other cattle than camels, or with goods, or money: but the price of camels was to form the standard amount, that is, whatever might be the value of camels at a particular time, the price of a hundred was to form the price of blood. For killing an infidel, a Moslem was on no account to be put to death; and although he must pay a blood-fine, it was to be only half the amount of the fine for slaying a Mohammedan.

We have preferred to dwell on the Arabian usages as appearing best calculated to illustrate the state of things which the law of this chapter seems to have been intended to meet. In some other countries, more under law than Arabia, but where the same principle operates, the practice has been settled on a footing more in coincidence with that which is established in this chapter. This shows that these people either took their improved practice from the law of Moses, or else were enabled themselves to perceive the fitness of a practice determined so many ages before by that law. Thus in Persia, the avenger cannot act in the first instance, but must carry his complaint to the proper authorities who examine the case, and if the guilt of murder is by proper witnesses fixed on the offender, he is consigned to the avenger, who has full power either to kill him, to forgive him, or to exact the price of blood. This option was wisely withheld from the Hebrew avenger by the law of the present chapter. To have attacked the popular notion of honour absolutely, would probably have rendered the new law inoperative. Something therefore was conceded to it, in allowing the goel to become the executioner, and by rendering it not unlawful for him to slay the homicide who had not fled to the places of refuge or was found beyond their limits. Yet so much good was obtained, that the goel could but very rarely kill an innocent man, and that a judicial inquiry usually preceded the exercise of his revenge. And this inquiry had the advantage that, even when it terminated in condemnation, it was calculated to prevent the murderer's family from seeking vengeance on the avenger; for most people would feel that no injustice had been done. Thus alternate murders on either side, for many generations, till the respective families were nearly or quite extirpated as we sometimes see in Arabia and elsewhere-would no longer be likely to occur. Judging from the subsequent history, it would seem that the object of this law was completely attained; for we read of no examples of family feuds and enmities proceeding from the avengement of blood, or of murders either openly or treacherously perpetrated under the national idea of honour; although the history of Joab furnishes two instances in which it was used as a pretext. On the subject of this note further information will be found in Michaelis's Commentaries; the Koran, Sale's Preliminary Discourse,' and chaps. ii. and xvii; Mischat-ul-Masabih,' Book xiv.; Burckhardt's Notes on the Bedouins; Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie ;' D'Arvieux's Travels in Arabia;' Malcolm's History of Persia,' &c. Numerous references might be added from the accounts of travels in various countries to the usages to which we have here adverted.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

1 The inconvenience of the inheritance of daughters 5 is remedied by marrying in their own tribes, 7 lest the inheritance should be removed from the tribe. 10 The daughters of Zelophehad marry their father's brothers' sons.

AND the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spake before Moses, and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel:

2 And they said, 'The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by the LORD to give the

1 Chap. 27. 1. Josh. 17. 3.

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inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters.

3 And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe 'whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance.

4 And when the jubile of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put into the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.

5 And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the LORD,

Heb. unto whom they shall be,

saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well.

6 This is the thing which the LORD doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them 'marry to whom they think best; 'only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.

7 So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

8 And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers.

9 Neither shall the inheritance remove

| from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inherit

ance.

10 Even as the LORD commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad:

11 For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father's brothers' sons:

12 And they were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.

13 These are the commandments and the judgments, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.

Chap. 27.1. 7 Heb. to some that were of the families.

Heb. be wives. 4 Tob. 1. 9. 5 IIeb. cleave to thee, &c. Verse 13. "Plains of Moab.”—The territory of Moab lay south of the Arnon, and yet these "plains" are obviously to the north of that river "by Jordan near Jericho." This is accounted for by the fact that the Moabites had formerly possessed territories to the north of the Arnon, from which they had been driven out by the Amorites, the defeat of whom, under their king Sihon, by the Israelites, threw all the fine tract of country between the Arnon and the Jabbok into their possession, forming their first conquest of territory. The "plains of Moab," although on the north side of the Arnon, then, retained the name of the occupants previous to the Amorites. As the Israelites did not go to the Jordan while Moses lived, and Mount Nebo was the most advanced station in his lifetime, we are of course to understand the indication "by Jordan near Jericho" in the general sense of neighbourhood, or vicinity. Burckhardt, with a fair degree of probability, assigns the denomination to a considerable plain which occupies the greater part of the country between Mount Nebo and the Arnon, and which is enclosed between it and a small river called the Wale. This tract is now called El Koura, a term often applied to plains in Syria. The soil at present is very sandy and unfertile. The Wale joins the Arnon at about two hours' journey from the Dead Sea.

THE FIFTH BOOK OF MOSES,

CALLED

DEUTERONOMY.

CHAPTER I.

1 Moses' speech in the end of the fortieth year, briefly rehearsing the story 6 of God's promise, 13 of giving them officers, 19 of sending the spies to search the land, 34 of God's anger for their incredulity, 41 and disobedience.

desh-barnea.)

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3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;

4 After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:

5 On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,

6 The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:

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8 John 7. 24.

2 Num. 21. 24.

7 Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, 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, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.

8 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 unto them and to their seed after them.

9¶ And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:

10 The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.

11 (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)

12 How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?

13 Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.

14 And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.

15 So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and 'made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and cap-tains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.

16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.

17 'Ye shall not respect persons in judg. ment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the

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4 Heb. given. 9 Levit. 19. 15. Chap. 16. 19. 1 Sam. 16.7.

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cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

18 And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.

19 And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.

20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.

21 Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.

22 And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.

23 And the saying pleased me well: and "I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:

24 And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.

25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.

26 Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:

27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the 14Anakims there.

29 Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.

30 The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your

eyes; 31 And in the wilderness, where thou

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hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.

32 Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,

you, to

33 15 Who went in the way before search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day. 34 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,

35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers,

36 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath "wholly followed the LORD.

37 18 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.

38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

40 But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the of the Red sea.

way

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DEUTERONOMY.-This name, like that of the Vulgate (Deuteronomium), is from the Septuagint, which calls it AETTEPONOMION; meaning "the repetition of the law," or "the second law"-AUTipos Noos-because it contains a connected recapitulation, for the instruction of the new generation, of the laws and ordinances which had formerly been delivered occasionally, and at various intervals. This, however, is not exclusively its character, as we find in it various important particulars which do not occur in the preceding books. The Hebrews themselves give the book several names. The first is, as usual, from the first words of the text, 07 (elleh ha-debarim), "these are the words." Some of the Rabbins call it (sepher tokechoth), "the book of reproofs," on account of the frequent and severe reprehensions of the Israelites which it contains; while others call it D (mishneh torah)," the repetition of the law," which was the title preferred by the Septuagint. The end of the book contains some new and important circumstances, which are not contained in Numbers; and although the book is in its substance no other than a compendium of what has preceded, yet the frequently new matter, the additional details which are often given, and even the varied form in which the same thing is expressed, concur to render this book not only of the greatest importance in itself, but of the utmost value as a commentary on the three preceding books, furnishing the best elucidation which it is possible to obtain of the difficulties which occasionally occur in them.

Verse 1. "The Red sea."-The word "sea" (D) does not occur in the original, as the Italics denote, and the word D(suph) does not mean red. Unquestionably, when the two words come together they denote what we call the Red Sea; but when one of them only occurs, it is rather too much to conclude that the Red Sea is intended. Besides the Israelites are not at present near the Red Sea, but in the plains of Moab, not far from the eastern banks of the Jordan. Suph is, therefore, probably the proper name of some place in this neighbourhood. This is the opinion of Houbigant, Waterland, and Boothroyd, who concur in reading it-" in the plain over against Suph."

"Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab."-Two of these names, Paran and Hazeroth, occur also in the list of stations in the wilderness, and the whole are therefore thought by many, very inconsiderately, to have been such stations; the other names, which do not occur, being assigned, without the least authority-Tophel to Kibroth-Hattaavah, Laban to Libnah, and Dizahab to Ezion-gaber. It is clear, however, that Paran is not the wilderness of Paran, but, like the others, a place somewhere on the frontiers of the country in which the Israelites now were, which was "in the plains of Moab," near the southern extremity of the Dead Sea. Those Rabbins who adopt the above opinion, exhibit its untenable character by throwing in a clause between each name, in order to convey the sense, that Moses spoke, on the other side of Jordan, of what had happened at the several places mentioned: and indeed this is

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