seem to have taken place near the beginning and the end of this period. The As to the time of its being written, the evidence adduced in the Introduction § 2. General Contents. The history presents us with an account of the census-taking of the tribes, §3. Synoptical View. PART I.—Preparation for Departure from Sinai. 3. The appointment and ministrations of the Levites, 4. Various laws respecting the unclean, the woman suspected, and CHAPTERS V, VI 5. The offerings of the princes, and the consecration of the Levites, VII, VIII 6. Regulations respecting the celebration of the Passover, the sig- IX, X PART II.-The Departure from Sinai and the Journeying to the Land of 1. Murmurings from the wearisomeness of the way and disgust with 9. The duties and the support of the Priests and Levites, XVIII 11. Murmuring for want of Water, unbelief of Moses, perfidy of Edom, XX 1. The summoning of Balaam by Balak, and his compliance, 2. Balaam's sacrifice, and his prophetic benedictions, XXII XXIII, XXIV 3. The sin of the people with the Midianitish women and 11. List of the stations in the wilderness, 12. The appointed boundaries of the land, and the names of the 14. Laws respecting inheritances for preserving the succession of estates and the distinction of families, § 4. Commentators. CHAPTERS. XXXIII XXXIV XXXV XXXVI We are obliged to repeat here the remark made in the Introduction to Leviticus, that the commentators on this book are few apart from those who have expounded the several books of the Pentateuch, or the Old Testament at large. Yet we cannot say but our apparatus is sufficiently ample, although every year is adding to its extent. No attempt at unfolding the genuine scope of the Mosaic books can do justice to the theme, which overlooks the resources accumulated by critics and travellers within the last twenty years. In the preparation of the following Notes, the author has pursued the same general plan, and been governed by the same principles which characterize his former volumes on the books of Moses. He is happy to acknowledge his indebtedness to the labors of his predecessors, while at the same time he has thought and spoken for himself, and ventures to claim something more for his work than the mere culling out and remoulding of the best critical or practical remarks of others. Having the inspired original, with its collateral ancient versions, continually before him, he could scarcely fail to reach some results which are peculiar to himself, although in a work intended for plain Bible readers as well as teachers, he has been guarded as to launching forth into veins of mere curious or speculative research. He is admonished by the lessons of advancing years that he has no time for any but useful inquiries, and that even in this department his labors henceforth must be bounded by inevitably narrow limits. He has endeavored, therefore, so to conduct his studies, and so to shape the results, as to subserve the highest interest of the greatest number of his readers. In the way of critical and ethical helps in his undertaking, the most important have been the following, for the use of several of which he has been indebted to the private and public collections which have been kindly placed at his service. In respect to these various versions and Targums, the reader will find ample information in the Introduction to the Notes on Genesis. They are not all of equal value, but all of them will occasionally throw important light upon passages occurring in the sacred text. The Vulg. and the Gr. are generally quoted in the words of the English translation-the former of the Douay, and the latter of Thomson or Brenton. In quoting from the Targums and the Jewish Expositors, the author has usually availed himself of the version given in Ainsworth's very valuable Notes, to which he has had frequent recourse throughout. |