ORIENTAL DISCOVERIES ON OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. 51 



to refer to in respect of our late distinguished friend (whose name 

 is in this paper) is that in the very last of his exploratory expeditions, 

 which was to the land of Edom and Moab, he was able to throw 

 light upon a point that always appeared to me to be one of extreme 

 difficulty, namely, an occurrence that took place regarding the death 

 of Aaron, the high priest. You will recollect that it is said that 

 when the Lord had pronounced the sentence against Aaron and 

 Moses — that they were not to personally enter the Promised Land 

 — Aaron was the first to die. He took off his priestly robes and 

 ascended Mount Hor. It says nothing more than that he died on 

 Mount Hor. What became of his body is the point that always 

 was the difficulty with me, until Sir Charles Wilson in his last 

 expedition, of which he gave an account to us here, said that he had 

 ascended Mount Hor and discovered a number of tombs or caves 

 which had been undoubtedly used for tombs, and which we may be- 

 quite sure had been there from a very long antiquity, and possibly 

 used as sepulchres by the Edomite inhabitants. The present Arabs 

 are not excavators of tombs, although they made use of tombs for 

 their dead, and I have no doubt that the body of Aaron was laid 

 — that he laid himself down in one of these tombs and passed away.. 

 I think that is a very interesting point, and I have referred to Sir 

 Charles Wilson to mention that he is a discoverer and explorer who 

 has thrown light upon the subject of the death of the prophet 

 Aaron. 



I have also to thank Canon Girdlestone for reading the jmper 

 in my stead. 



Mr. Woodford Pilkington. — One portion of this very valuable 

 paper of Mr. Urquhart's refers to the discrepancies between the 

 Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles. It is very remarkable- 

 that in the Book of Kings all the crimes of the Kings like David 

 and Solomon are noticed by the Holy Spirit in directing the writing 

 in this book with a view to serve the times forward in which we 

 live. There is a record in the Book of Kings of the crimes of 



* On referring to the paper l ead by Sir Charles Wilson, " Recent 

 Investigations in Moab and Edom " (vol. xxxiii, p. 242), I am unable to 

 find a reference to the caves on Mount Hor ; but it is strongly inipres^^ed 

 on my mind that they had been referred to by the author of the paper, 

 and may have been shown in one of the lantern pictures, or stated in the- 

 discussion. — E. H. 



