(9) The Amorites. The Amorites being re quested, refused to give Israel a passage through their borders, and so the nation was again com pelled to proceed still in a northerly course. At length, having beaten the Amorites. and 0g, king of Bashan, they reached the Jordan, and pitched their tents at a spot which lay opposite Jericho.
(10) Balak and Balsam. Here Balak, king of the Moabites, alarmed at their numbers and their successful prowess, invited Balaam to curse Israel, in the hope of being thus aided to over come them and drive them out. The intended curse provee a blessing in the prophet's mouth. While here the people gave way to the idolatrous practices of the Moabites, when a terrible pun ishment was inflicted, partly by a plague which took off twenty-four thousand, and partly by the avenging sword.
(11) Census. Moses, being commanded to take the sum of the children of Israel, from twenty years upwards, found they amounted to six hun dred thousand seven hundred and thirty, among whom there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron numbered in the wilderness of Sinai (Num. xxvi:47, 64).
(12) Moses Views the Land. Moses is now directed to ascend Abarim, to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab, over against Jericho, in order that he might survey the land which he was not to enter on account of his having rebelled against God's commandment in the desert of Zin (Num. xxvii:t2; Dent. xxxii :49). Conformably with the divine command, Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, and there he died, at the age of one hundred and twenty years: 'His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated' (Deut. xxxiv).
(13) The End. Under Joshua, the successor of Moses, the Hebrews were forthwith led across the Jordan, and established in the Land of Promise. Thus a journey, which they might have per formed in a few months, they spent forty years in accomplishing, bringing on themselves unspeak able toil and trouble, and in the end, death, as a punishment for their gross and sensual appetites, and their unbending indocility to the divine will (Num. xiv :23; xxvi :63). Joshua, however, gained thereby a great advantage; inasmuch as it was with an entirely new generation that he laid the foundations of the civil and religious institutions of the Mosaic polity in Palestine. This advan
tage assigns the reason why so long a period of years was spent in the wilderness.
J. R. B.
WAR (war), the translation of several Hebrew and Greek words: mil-khaw-mawt, fighting .; tsaw-haw', or Iseb-aw-aw', to make war; used also for the sacred service of the Levites (Num. iv:23); , literally to consume; Gr. raciws, ,t5ol'em-os, a conflict; arparaCw, strat-yoa'apto make a military expedrtion.
(1) Preparation of Hebrews in Egypt. The Hebrew nation, so long as it continued in Egyptian bondage, might be regarded as unacquainted with military affairs, since a jealous government would scarcely permit so numerous and dense a popula tion as the pastoral families of Israel, which re tained their seat in Goshen, certainly wore, to be in possession of the means of resistance to author ity; but, placed as this portion of the people was, with the wanderers of the wilderness to the south, and the mountain robbers of Edom to the east, some kind of defense must have been provided to protect its cattle, and in a measure to cover lower Egypt itself from foreign inroads. Probably the laboring population, scattered as bondsmen through the Delta. were alone destitute of weapons, while the shepherds had the same kind of defensive arms which are still in use, and allowed to all classes in eastern countries, whatever be their con dition. The mixed state of their social position appears to be countenanced by the fact that, when suddenly permitted to depart, the whole organiza tion required for the movement of such a multi tude was clearly in force; yet not a word is said about physical means to resist the pursuing Egyp tians, although at a subsequent period it does not appear that they were wanting to invade Pales tine, but that special causes prevented them from being immediately resorted to. The Israelites were, therefore, partly armed ; they had their bows and arrows, clubs and darts, wicker or ox-hide shields, and helmets (caps) of skins, or of woven rushes, made somewhat like our beehives.