Gilead, a.ud not on the most friendly terms the towns in tha.t pa.rt of Gilead, and ot mth the rest of the tribe. It is quite pos• Bashan too (see notes on tl111 passages sible that many of the more adventuro1ll! cited). spirit.s amongst the tribe of Judah joined Ver. 42.-liobah. As this chieftain ill tl1emselves to a family whose reputation e.nd nowhere else named, we, may probably con• exploits they might naturally claim e.s their elude that he was one of the companions of 01m (see 011 Josh. xix. 34'). The small tow:ua Jair, holding a position more or less subor· thereof, or, "their vi~." Septuagint, dine.te to him. Xenath. The modem Ke- ,-tic ;,raii>..i,, a~rw,,, i. e. the hamlets of the nawa.t, on the western slope of the Jebel Amorites who dwelt in Argob (Deut. iii. H), Ha.uran, the most easterly point ever occu- the modern district of el Lejja, on the pied by the Israelites. It is a.pi:e.rently the north-western waters of the Yermuk or Nobah mentioned in Judges vilL 11, but it Hieromax. And called them B:avoth-ja.ir. has reverted (like so many others) to its old i'N' n~n- Septuagint, ra, i.rav~H, 'laip, name. In spite of the uncertainties which hang over the conquest of this north-eastern and' so the Ta.rgums. The word chaiV'VOth territory, there is something very character• only occurs in this connection, and is sup- istic in the part played by the Machirlte posed by some to be the plural of Ml".!, leaders. That tl:iey acted with an inde- " life. '' There does not, however, seem to pendent vigour bordering on audacity, that be anything except the very doubtful analogy they showed great personal prowess, and had of certain German names in favour of the great persona.I authority with the humbler rendering "Jair's lives." It is more likely members of their family, and held something the corruption of some more ancient name. like the position of feudal superiol'l! among There is some discrepancy in subsequent them, is evident from the way in which they references to the Cha.vvoth-ja.ir. According a.re spoken of. And this is quite in keeping to 1 Cb:ron. ii. 22, Ja.i.r had twenty-three with the character of the Ma.nassites in after towns in Gilead ; from Judges x. 4 it appears times. The "governors " who ea.me at the that the sons of the later J air had thirty call of Barak, Gideon, the greatest of the cities "in the land of Gilead " which went warrior-judges, and probably Jephthah also under the na.me of Chavvoth-ja.i.r; while in (" the Gileadite "), e.s well a.s the younger Josh. riii. 80 "a.J.l the Cha vvoth-jair which Jair, maintained the warlike and impetuous are in Bashan" are reckoned at sixty. The character of their race. If "Elijah the plausible, though not wholly satisfactory, Tishbite" was really from this region (al- explanation is, that the conquests of Nobah though this is extremely doubtful), we should ea.me to be subsequently included in those find in him the characteristic daring and of his more famous contemporary, and the self-reliance of Me.chir trallllmnted into their vague name of Chavvoth-jair extended to a.J.l spiritual equivalents.
HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-42.-The mutaken c/wia. In this chapter we have, spiritually, the choice of those who do not (on the one hand) wish to sever themselves from the people of God, nor to desert their brethren, but who are ( on the other hand) greatly disinclined to go the whole length to which the word of God would lead them, and are determined to abide in the middle ground between the Church and the world. And this choice is set before us both on its worse side, in that it is at once pre- sumptuo':'s and foolish, albeit not unnatural ; and on i~s ~etter side, as bein'{ ?on- sistent with a large measure of really good and honest pnnc1ple. The whole epmtual value of the chapter turns upon the lesson thus taught. Consider, therefore- !. THAT THE CHILDREN OF REUBEN AND GAD DESIRED TO BTAY YON-SIDE OD' JORDkN BECAUSE IT SUITED THEM; i. e. because (1) they bad much cattle, (2) for which the rolling downs and plateaux of that region were admirably adapted, whereas (3) it would be a difficult matter to transport their scattered flocks and herds acroes the tangled valley and deep stream of Jordan, and ( 4) the straiter limits of Canaan pro- per seemed unsuited to pastoral wealth. Even so a.. multitude of Christians hang back from going all lengths with Christ because (1) they have much wealth of this world, (2) for the enjoyment of which a manner of life only partially limited and restrained by strict Christian principle is on the face of it very suitable, while (3) there is a manifest difficulty about introducing this wealth into a strictly religioll8 life, and (4) an evident incongruity between the requisite atteI1tion to ljuch wealth anq tpe reatre.inte and demands of such o. li4 OH, XXXII. 1-42.) THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. '17