Ver. 30.-We he.ve 1hot e.t them. C11)t a few miles below the lake of Tiberias. The A poetical word of somewhat doubtful mean- kingdom of Og, however, extended over the ing. It is generally supposed to be e. verbe.l northern and larger part of Gilead, a much form (first person plural imperf. Kal), from more fertile territory than Bashan proper (seeonDeut. iii. 1-17). .ltEdrei. Probably i11!, with a.n unusual suffix (cf. c~;';,i for the modern Edhra'ah, or Der'a, situate on a C~i1~! in Exod. xxi.x. 30). ni: h~ the branch of the Jarmuk, some twenty-four primary meaning "to shoot a.t," the second- miles from Bozrah. The ancient citv lies ary, "to ovorthrow," a.a in Exod. xv. 4. buried beneath the modern village, a.nd was Others, howeve'r, derive the word from i11N, built, like the other cities of Bashan, in the a. root supposed to mean "burn." Even most massive style of architecture. The unto Dibon. See on eh. xxxii. 34. The site cities of Og were so strong that the Israelites of Nopha.h, perhaps the Noba.h of Judges conld not have dispossessed him by any viii. 11, is unknown. Which rea.cheth unto might of their own if he had abode behind Medeba.. The reading is uncertain here a.a his walls. Either confidence in his warlike well a.s the meaning. The received text has prowess or some more mysterious cause (see on Josh. xxiv. 12) impelled him to leave his tc;i,1Q"il/ i~~. which gives no meaning, fortifications, and give battlo to the Israelite~ but the circle over the resh marks it a.a to his own utter defeat. suspicious. The Septuagint (1riip hri .Mwa/3) Ver. 34.-Fear him not. He might well a.nd the Samaritan evidently read e.'~, a.nd. have been formidable, not only on account this has been generally followed : " we have of his size (cf. Dent. i. 28; iii. 11 ; 1 Sam. wasted oven unto N opha.h,-with fire unto xvii. 11) but from the formidable nature of Medeba." Medeba., of which the ruins are those wahed cities which are still a wonder still known by the ea.me name, la.y five or to all that see them. six miles south-south-east of Heshbon. It Ver. 35.-So they emote him. Acting wa.s a. fortress in the time of David (1 Chron. under the direct commands of God, they ex- xix. 7) and of Omri, a.s appears from the terminated tha Amorites of the northern as Moabite stone. they had of the southern kingdom. Ver. 32.-Ja.a.zer. Perhaps the present es-Szir, some wa.y to the north of Heshbon Oh. nil. 1.-.lnd the children of Israel (see on Jer. xlviii. 32). This victory com- set forward. Not necessadly after the pleted the conquest of Sihon's kingdom. defeats of Sihon nnd Og; it is quite as likely Ver. 33.-They turned and went up by that this last journey was made while tLe the wa.y of lla.sha.n. The brevity of the armies were a.way on their northern con- narrative does not allow us to know who quests. And pitched in the plains of Moab. went upon this expedition, or why they The Arboth Moe.b, or steppes of llfoab, were went. It ma.y have been only the detachment those portions of tha Jordan valley which which had reconnoitred a.nd taken JMzer, had belonged to Moab perhaps 11s for north and they may have found themselves three.t- as the Jabbok. In this sultry depression, oned by the forces of Og, and so led on to below the level of the sea, there are tracts of further conquests beyond the Jabbok. Og fertile and well ·watered land o.midst pre- the king of llashan. Og wns himself of the vailing barrenness (seo on eh. Lu.iii. 49). aboriginal giant race which had left so many On this side Jordan by Jericho. Ro.ther, remnants, or at leo.st so many memories, in these regions (see on Deut. ii. 10-12, 20- "beyond the Jordan of Jedcho," 1n::,_• l:!1.'.~ 23; Josh. xii. 4; xiii. 12); but he is clo.ssed i:;\V.~- On the phrase, "beyond the Jordan,; with Sihon a.s II king of the Amorites (Josh. ('' Perrea. "), which is used indifferently of ii. 10) because his people were chiefly at both sides, the one by a conventional, tho least of that race. Bashan itself comprised other by e. natural, use, see on Dcut. i. 1. tho plain now known as Jaula.n and Ha.ulan The Jordan of Jericho is the river in that beyond the Jarmuk (now Mandhur), the part of its course where it flows pnst the dis- largest e.llluent of the J ordo.n, which joins it trict of Jericho.
HOMILETICS. Ver. 10-ch. xxii. 1.-Progress and triumph. In this passage, which has i. very distinctive character, we have, spiritually, the rapid progress of the soul towo.rda rest, and the first great triumphs given to it over its spiritual foes, after tho.t, by the power of the cross through fo.ith in him that was lifted up, the soul has been delivered from the deadly venom of the sins which did beset it. There is a time when the soul hangs between dee.th and life; there is a time when, this crisis past, it speeds onward with unexpected ease and victory towards its goal in the full 284 THE B001t OF NUMBERS. [OB, XXI. 10-xxn. t.