Part 173

20:23. Where the Lord spoke to Moses:

20:24. Let Aaron, saith he, go to his people: for he shall not go into the land which I have given the children of Israel, because he was incredulous to my words, at the waters of contradiction.

20:25. Take Aaron and his son with him, and bring them up into mount Hor:

20:26. And when thou hast stripped the father of his vesture, thou shalt vest therewith Eleazar his son: Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and die there.

20:27. Moses did as the Lord had commanded: and they went up into mount Hor before all the multitude.

20:28. And when he had stripped Aaron of his vestments, he vested Eleazar his son with them.

20:29. And Aaron being dead in the top of the mountain, he came down with Eleazar.

20:30. And all the multitude seeing that Aaron was dead, mourned for him thirty days throughout all their families.

Numbers Chapter 21

King Arad is overcome. The people murmur and are punished with fiery serpents: they are healed by the brazen serpent. They conquer the kings Sehon and Og.

21:1. And when king Arad the Chanaanite, who dwelt towards the south, had heard this, to wit, that Israel was come by the way of the spies, he fought against them, and overcoming them carried off their spoils.

21:2. But Israel binding himself by vow to the Lord, said: If thou wilt deliver this people into my hand, I will utterly destroy their cities.

21:3. And the Lord heard the prayers of Israel, and delivered up the Chanaanite, and they cut them off and destroyed their cities: and they called the name of that place Horma, that is to say, Anathema.

Anathema.... That is, a thing devoted to utter destruction.

21:4. And they marched from mount Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom. And the people began to be weary of their journey and labour:

21:5. And speaking against God and Moses, they said: Why didst thou bring us out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, nor have we any waters: our soul now loatheth this very light food.

Very light food.... So they call the heavenly manna: thus worldlings loathe the things of heaven, for which they have no relish.

21:6. Wherefore the Lord sent among the people fiery serpents, which bit them and killed many of them.

Fiery serpents.... They are so called, because they that were bitten by them were burnt with a violent heat.

21:7. Upon which they came to Moses, and said; We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and thee: pray that he may take away these serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

21:8. And the Lord said to him: Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live.

21:9. Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.

A brazen serpent.... This was a figure of Christ crucified, and of the efficacy of a lively faith in him, against the bites of the hellish serpent. John 3.14.

21:10. And the children of Israel setting forwards camped in Oboth.

21:11. And departing thence they pitched their tents in Jeabarim, in the wilderness, that faceth Moab toward the east.

21:12. And removing from thence, they came to the torrent Zared:

21:13. Which they left and encamped over against Arnon, which is in the desert and standeth out on the borders of the Amorrhite. For Arnon is the border of Moab, dividing the Moabites and the Amorrhites.

21:14. Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord: As he did in the Red Sea, so will he do in the streams of Arnon.