25, 39-45 (command to make the circuit of Edom, and disaster at Hormah, E) and continues it without any apparent break; but it is probable from Num. xx. 1b, 16. Jos. xxiv. 7, and Dt. i. 46, (note also the + of LXX. in xiv. 45) that E in like manner with J (xiv. 33) supposes the principal part of the 40 years to be spent in Kadesh and its neighboring oases (cf. xx. I and 16). In Num. xx. our principal source is E, but both P2 and J have a part, the former being as usual easier to disentangle, but in this section remarkably dislocated and confused in process of redaction.

P2 relates the coming of the "congregation" from KadeshMeribah to mount Hor, where Aaron dies, and is succeeded by Eleazar. A 30 days' mourning is observed by the people; xx. 22b-29. Thence by regular stages Israel journeys to the plains of Moab; xxi. 11f.; xxii. 1. Here a disaster befalls them, brought about by the machinations of Balaam the son of Beor, who had counselled the Midianites to entice Israel to sin through their women (supplied from xxxi. 16). On account of Israel's intermarriage with the Midianite women a plague is sent upon the camp and stayed only by the summary act of Phinehas; xxv. 6–15. Yahweh commands a war of extermination against Midian, [whose land is taken from them, xxxii. 4]; XXV. 16-18, possible traces in ch. xxxi. (P3). The rest of the book of Numbers from ch. xxv. on contains nothing belonging to the narrative, save the direction to Moses to ascend mount Abarim and die there, after installing Joshua, and the priestly element in the story of the inheritance of Gad and Reuben. The latter should probably precede the preliminaries to Moses' death xxvii. 12-23. Upon the request of Gad and Reuben that the territory taken from Midian may be reserved for their inheritance, Moses directs Eleazar the priest and Joshua (hence the displacement of xxvii. 12-23) to bestow the trans-Jordanic territory on the two tribes, on condition of their participation in the conquest; xxxii. 1a, 2b, 4, 18f., 28–33. Thereafter Moses is commanded, after installing Joshua, to ascend mount Abarim, view the land and die there; xxvii. 12-23. Chh. xxvi.-xxvii. II belong to the priestly legislative material giving the census

preparatory to distribution of the inheritances, and directions for the inheritance of daughters. Chh. xxviii.-xxx., various Levitical offerings, (no connection). Ch. xxxi., a late midrash, expanding and supplanting Pa's story of the war against Midian. Chh. xxxiv.-xxxvi., novellae to the priestly law relating to the distribution of the land. These latter are omitted as immaterial to the narrative.

The narrative of E is as follows: From Kadesh Moses sends messengers to the king of Edom, asking leave to pass through his territory, but meets peremptory and armed refusal. Israel therefore turns "to compass the land of Edom; XX. 14-21. The people are discouraged, and complain against the manna ; fiery serpents are sent as a punishment, and on Moses' intercession the serpent of brass is erected and heals the bitten; xxi. 4-9. Skirting the eastern border of Edom and Moab, Israel reaches and crosses the upper Arnon, the border between Moab and the Amorites; vv. 12–15. Moses thereupon sends to Sihon, king of the Amorites, repeating the request made to Edom, and is again refused. Sihon comes out into the wilderness to attack Israel at Jahaz, but meets overwhelming defeat. Israel occupies his land; vv. 21-24. Balak, king of Moab, alarmed at the fate of Sihon, sends to Aram-Naharaim for the prophet Balaam to curse Israel; Balaam at first refuses, but at the second request, by divine instruction, goes with Balak's messengers; xxii. 4–21 in part. Arrived in Ar on

the border of Moab he is met by Balak, and after sacrifices, pronounces not a curse but a blessing upon Israel. When Balak protests he reiterates it; xxii. 36-41 in part, ch. xxiii. Israel is led into idolatry by the daughters of Moab; xxv. If. 4. Gad and Reuben receive Gilead as their portion, upon promise to assist the other tribes in the conquest of the land beyond Jordan; xxxii. 1b, 2a, 16f., 24, 34-38.

According to xiv. 33 we must suppose in J a period of 40 years of nomadic life in the desert with Kadesh as headquarters. This period, however, is doubtless to be put, as in E, after the disaster at Hormah (xxi. 1-3) since the order of events in the two documents is the same.

After the incident

of the report of the spies the Canaanite king of Arad fights against Israel and inflicts a defeat upon them, which Israel avenges in the neighborhood of the city of Zephath, afterwards called Hormah; xxi. 1-3. Thence Israel journeys by stages through the territory of Edom and Moab, and encamps at the peak of Pisgah in the field of Moab; vv. 16–20. Israel makes conquest of Amorite territory east of Jordan; vv. 24b, 25, 31f. In fear and envy of Israel's greatness, Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, sends to the children of Ammon to hire the prophet Balaam to come and curse Israel; xxii. 2-21 in part. On the way Balaam encounters the angel of Yahweh, who is recognized by the prophet's ass, "the dumb ass speaking with man's voice and staying the madness of the prophet; vv. 22-35. Arrived at Kirjath-huzzoth in Moab, Balaam, confronting Israel, pronounces a blessing instead of a curse, and after Balak's protest, a second blessing; xxii. 39, traces in xxiii. 27ff., ch. xxiv. Israel makes a league with Baal-peor and is punished; xxv. 3, 5. Reuben and Gad obtain permission from Moses to occupy the Amorite cities east of Jordan ; Machir takes Gilead, and Jair and Nobah perform similar exploits-perhaps at a later time; xxxii. 3, 5f., 20-23, 25-27. Vv. 39, 41f. have probably been displaced from after Jos. xvii. 18.

I.

Chh. xx. 14-xxii. 1. THE CIRCUIT OF EDOM AND MOAB,
AND CONQUEST OF GILEAD.

ANALYSIS.

In this part of §vi. the priestly element is very easily distinguished. The marked and peculiar phraseology of xx. 22b-29 is enough of itself to determine. But we have in vs. 24 an explicit reference to the rebellion "of Moses and Aaron related by P2 only (vv. 1-13; cf. xxvii. 12–14) and the whole paragraph follows faithfully the model of the death of Moses, as related by the same writer in xxvii, 12-14; Dt. xxxii. 48–52; xxxiv. Iff, where the story of Aaron's death as here told is again referred to (cf. Dt. xxxii. 50 with vv. 23f). We have on the other hand a wholly different and contradictory account of the death of Aaron in Dt. x. 6, an isolated bowlder of ancient material, broken off in some unaccountable manner from

the itinerary of E preceding Num. xx. 1 (cf. Num. xxi. 12ff), and introduced in most extraordinary fashion into the midst of a discourse of Moses. This context it interrupts in so flagrant a manner that the imagination is at a loss to conceive an explanation of its insertion. But we need only compare this singular fragment Dt. x. 6f. (vv. 8f. are in place) with Jos. xxiv. 33, to see that it forms the middle link between this and the account of Aaron's calling as priest, in the data, now missing, which originally preceded Ex. ii. There is good reason therefore to consider it a fragment of E's itinerary. Now the formula employed in this itinerary corresponds exactly to that of Num. xxi. 12ff, but differs from that invariably employed by P, in that the verb is not put first. This latter formula (P2) appears only in vv. 10f. of ch. xxi. and in xxii. 1, verses which are disconnected from, and sometimes interrupt (xxii. 1) the context, but agree with one another and with the rest of P2. No other trace of the priestly writer appears elsewhere in, this subsection, but everywhere material demonstrably connected with JE.

this writer such

In considering the "prophetic " element we have first to observe that xxi. 1–3 is a passage which in any event interrupts the connection, and no less so after the removal of xx. 22b-29 than before. In xxi. 4 we have the immediate sequel of xx. 21, which does not tolerate separation from it, and the fulfilment of xiv. 25. "From mount Hor" in xxi. 4 is of course harmonistic; otherwise the verse connects directly with xx. 21. Now xiv. 25 was assigned to E. But we have strong independent ground for assigning xx. 14-21, 22a; xxi. 4ab ff. to E. Beginning with XX. 14ff. we find a number of characteristics peculiar to as the term, travail," unexampled save in Ex. xviii. 8; 'the angel of God" who brought them out of Egypt (cf. Ex. xiv. 19; xxiii. 20; xxxii. 34) and others indicated by the references. But, as we saw, xx. 14ff. is inseparable from xxi. 4ff. Here the references again favor E as unmistakably as before, and include the very important item that Elohim Yahis used in vs. 5, where in either P or J we should certainly have weh," and probably "murmured" instead of "spake against" (cf. xii. 1; ct. Ex. xv. 24). But again, whichever source xx. 14 ff. and xxi. 4ff. are assigned to, xx. 1-3, which interrupts their sequence, must be from the other. Hence if marks of E were found in xxi. 1-3 it would throw doubt upon the case. But we have already attributed one story of the disaster at Hormah (xiv. 39-45) to E, and should be impelled independently to assign xxi. 1-3 to J on account of the language (see refs.). But we have still further to go, and shall find corroborations of our analysis as we advance. Vv. 21-24a have a structure identical with xx. 14ff. and must unavoidably be attributed to the same author. The geographical

ness

situation here is unique and important. Israel is "out in the wilderat Jahaz (vs. 23), i. e. beyond the eastern outskirts of Edom, Moab and the Amorite, who, in the order named, extend from the Gulf of Akaba to the Jabbok, along the east shore of the Dead Sea and Jordan. In other words they have made the circuit of Edom, and of Moab as well, respecting the territory of these kindred peoples. Now this not only agrees with xiv. 25; xx. 14–21; xxi. 4–9, but is exactly the representation of vv. 12–15, the geographical situation in vs. 13 being identical with vs. 23. But this itinerary was found to show affinity with Dt. x. 6f., a passage which in its turn showed evidence of derivation from E; and thus the chain of connection with E is completed in still another direction.

These geographical data are significant from their perfect self-consistency, but much more so from the fact that in Deuteronomy we have the traces of a wholly different and contradictory itinerary, and that this latter is also represented in Num. xxi. The author of Num. xx. 14-21; xxi. 4-9, 12-15, 21-24 (E) takes great pains to make clear and positive the statement that Israel did not pass through the territory of Edom and Moab, but when their request for permission to pass through under guarantee of peaceful behavior was refused, turned quietly away, respecting the rights of these kindred peoples, and addressed themselves to the laborious journey entirely around Edom and Moab, "by the way of the Red Sea "; i. e. southward from Kadesh to the northernmost point of the Gulf of Akaba, and so eastward and northward across the upper courses of the Zered and Arnon, keeping outside of the settled country for the entire distance. True, this may be, as critics claim, historically insupposable, the passage between Edom and the Gulf of Akaba being impossible to achieve peacefully without the consent of Edom, in fact requiring the crossing of Edomite territory; but such is E's representȧtion, made in most positive and unambiguous terms; and in support of it he cites a few lines from an ancient collection of ballads called "the Book of the Wars of Yahweh" apparently with the sole object of showing the border of Moab to have been formed at the time by the lower course of the Arnon. Israel has crossed the upper course of Arnon "which cometh out of the border of the Amorites," but is "in the wilderness"; hence, if a trespasser at all, a trespasser against the Amorite only, and according to vv. 21ff. not really in the territory even of the Amorite. This representation is only partly followed by D. As far as Dt. ii. I he agrees with E, but in ii. 3 we read the divine command, “ Ye have compassed this mountain long enough : turn you northward, and command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the border of your