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| Chapter XXI.
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Chapter XXI.
There followed the revolt
of those, who, with Dathan and Abiron as leaders, endeavored to set
themselves up against Moses and Aaron; but the earth, opening,
swallowed them alive. And not long after, a revolt of the whole people
arose against Moses and Aaron, so that they rushed into the tabernacle,
which it was not lawful for any but the priests to enter. Then truly
death mowed them down in heaps; and all would have perished in a
moment, had not the Lord, appeased by the prayers of Moses, turned
aside the disaster. Nevertheless, the number of those slain amounted to
seven hundred and fourteen thousand.287
| 287 “septingenti
et xiiii milia.” | And not
long after, as had already often happened, a revolt of the people arose
on account of the want of water. Then Moses, instructed by God to
strike the rock with his rod, with a kind of trial new familiar to him,
since he had already done that before, struck the rock once and again,
and thus water flowed out of it. In regard, however, to this point,
Moses is said to have been reproved by God, that, through want of
faith, he did not bring out the water except by repeated blows; in
fact, on account of this transgression, he did not enter the land
promised to him, as I shall show farther on. Moses, then, moving away
from that place, as he was preparing to lead his
company along by the borders of Edom, sent
ambassadors to the king to beg liberty to pass by; for he thought it
right to abstain from war on account of the connection by blood; for
that nation was descended from Esau. But the king despised the
suppliants, and refused them liberty to pass by, being ready to contend
in arms. Then Moses directed his march towards the mountain, Or,
keeping clear of the forbidden road, that he might not furnish any
cause of war between those related by blood, and on that route he
destroyed the king of the nation of the Canaanites. He smote also Seon
the king of the Amorites, and possessed himself of all their towns: he
conquered, too, Basan and Balac. He pitched his camp beyond Jordan, not
far from Jericho. Then a battle took place against the Midianites, and
they were conquered and subdued. Moses died, after he had ruled the
people forty years in the wilderness. But the Hebrews are said to have
remained in the wilderness for so long a time, with this view, until
all those who had not believed the words of God perished. For, except
Joshua and Caleb, not one of those who were more than twenty years old
on leaving Egypt passed over Jordan. That Moses himself only saw the
promised land, and did not reach it, is ascribed to his sin, because,
at that time when he was ordered to strike the rock, and bring forth
water, he doubted, even after so many proofs of his miraculous power.
He died in the one hundred and twentieth year of his age. Nothing is
known concerning the place of his burial.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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