MOSES. 
of his life. About the year 14.71 E.C. the rebellion of 
Korah broke out; (ch. xvi.) He was one of the chiefs 
of the tribe of Levi,, and had drawn a confiderable party 
Into his intereft, among whom were Dathan and Abiram, 
heads of the tribe of Reuben. They took offence at the 
great diftinftion of the family of Aaron above the reft of 
the Levites, and united in a plot for fuppbanting it. 
When it was ripe for being Carried into execution, Korah 
appeared at the head of the confpirators, and openly up¬ 
braided Motes and Aaron with unjuft ambition, in en- 
grofling all authority in civil and religious concerns, to 
the exclulion of the reft of the congregation, whom he 
affirmed to have equal claims to it with themfelves. For 
this feditious addrefs Mofes feverely rebuked Korah and 
his party, reproaching them for their ingratitude and ar¬ 
rogance in not being contented with the privileges which 
God had conferred on their tribe, and afpiring to the 
high-priefthood, which he had been pleafed to referve for 
Aaron and his pofterity. He then challenged them to 
appear on the following morning at the door of the ta¬ 
bernacle, having each of them a cenfer in his hand ; when 
he promifed that God would declare himfelf openly in 
favour of thofe whom he defigned for that high office. 
Afterwards he fent privately for Dathan and Abiram, 
with the defign of endeavouring to reclaim them from a 
party into which he fuppofed them to have been incau- 
tioufly feduced ; but, inftead of coming to him, they re¬ 
turned an infolent anfwer, charging him with having 
decoyed the whole nation out of the fertile land of Egypt 
into the wildernefs, for the foie purpofe of reducing 
them under his own tyranny. Againft the injuftice of 
this accufation Mofes made a folemn appeal to the Divine 
Being, and early next morning went with Aaron towards 
the tabernacle. Hither Korah foon afterwards repaired, 
at the head of two hundred and fifty Levites, each of 
them carrying a copper cenfer with incenle, and followed 
by a prodigious multitude, who came either to be fpec- 
iators of the fcene which was to take place, or to fupport 
the caufe of the confpirators. Upon this, Mofes and Aaron 
were commanded to feparate themfelves from the rebel¬ 
lious crew, left they fliould perifh in the deftrudtion that 
was ready to fall upon them; but, upon the interceffion 
of the former, he was permitted to warn the people to 
quit Korah and his company, and they followed him to 
the quarters of the Reubenites, where Dathan and Abi¬ 
ram with their families were Handing at their tent-doors. 
Mofes now addreffed himfelf to the aflembly around him, 
and laid that, “ if thofe rebels fhould die a common death, 
he would give them leave to look upon him as an im- 
poftor; but that, if the earth fhould immediately open 
in a miraculous manner, and fwallow them up alive, he 
trufted that the divine authority by which he afted would 
be no longer queftioned.” Scarcely had he fpoken to 
this purport, when the earth clave afunder under the 
feet of the confpirators, and buried them alive, with all 
their families and fubftance. Terrifying as thefe events 
were, they had not the effebt of crufhing the fpirit of in- 
furreftion which the rebellious chiefs had excited ; for, 
fo foon as on the following morning, (ver. 40.) their 
numerous partifans had the audacity to advance in a 
tumultuous manner againft Mofes and Aaron, accufing 
them of having murdered the people of the Lord, as they 
called their feditious leaders. Upon this, the two bro¬ 
thers haftened to the tabernacle, where threatening ap¬ 
pearances in the cloud fufpended for fome time the fury 
of the infurgents. Here Mofes, who forefaw that fome 
terrible judgment was ready to be inflirited on the guilty 
people, commanded his brother to take his cenfer, and 
to endeavour by the prefcribed rites to appeafe the divine 
difpleafure ; but, though Aaron made all poflible hafte to 
obey him, a dreadful plague had already begun its ra¬ 
vages, and raged fo furioufly, that it had deftroyed four¬ 
teen thoufand and l'even hundred men, before its pro- 
grefs was flayed on his Handing with his cenfer betwee* 
the living and the dead. 
? % 
In the year 1453 B. C. while the Ifraelites were en¬ 
camped at Kadeffi in the defect of Zin, (ch. xx.) they dil- 
covered a frelh difpofition to rebellion, on account of the 
want of water; and Mofes was commanded by God to 
furnifh them with a fupply out of the rock, as he had done 
formerly at Mount Horeb. On this occafion, his conduct 
and that of Aaron were fo difpleafing to God, that they 
were excluded from entering the promifed land, and con¬ 
demned to die in the wildernefs; but, owing either to 
the brevity or imperfe£lion of the narrative, the circum- 
ftances in which their fault principally confifted do not 
fufiiciently appear. From Kadefh the camp was removed 
to the foot of Mount Hor, on the frontier of the land 
of Edom. Here, in obedience to the divine command, 
Mofes took Aaron, and Eleazar his fon, to the top of the 
mountain, and in the view of all the people ftripped Aaron 
of his prieftly robes, and put them on his fon, inverting 
him by that ceremony with the office of high-prieft; which 
was no looner done than Aaron died, and was buried on 
that mountain with fuch privacy, that the place of his 
interment could never afterwards be difcovered. 
The next encampment of the Ifraelites was at Zalmo- 
nah, (xxxiii. 41.) where, tired by the length of their 
journey, and impatient for more fubftantial bread than 
that made of manna, they began to murmur, not only 
againft Mofes but againft the Divine Being himfelf, for 
protrafting their ftay in the wildernefs. But this evi¬ 
dence of their rebellious difpofition met with a fpeedy 
and fevere puniffiment: for it provoked God to fend 
among them immenfe numbers of poifonous ferpents, 
(ch. xxi.) the bite of which proved mortal to vaft mul¬ 
titudes of the feditious crew. This chaftifement awoke 
them to a fenfe of their guilt, which they acknowledged 
before Mofes with profeffions of fincere repentance, en¬ 
treating him to intercede with God for their deliverance 
from that dreadful evil. In anfwer to his prayers, he re¬ 
ceived a divine command to call a brazen ierpent, of the 
fame figure with thofe that infelled them, and to elevate 
it on a high pole, with a promife that as many as were 
bitten by thofe reptiles fhould receive a miraculous cure 
by looking upon it. The plague having been by this 
means removed, the Ifraelites refumed their marches to¬ 
wards Canaan; and, being forbidden to commit hoftili- 
ties againft the Moabites and Ammonites, they fuccef- 
fively conquered the territories of the kings of the Amo- 
rites and of Balkan, who endeavoured to obftrufl their 
progrefs, and encamped in a peaceful manner near the 
territories of Balak king of Moah. That prince, how¬ 
ever, looked upon them with a jealous eye, (ch. xxii.) 
and entered into afecret alliance with the Midianites and 
Ammonites, for the purpole of oppofing them; but, be¬ 
fore he declared himfelf their enemy, he determined to 
follow the advice of Balaam, and attempt the fedudlion 
of them to idolatry with the aid of fome of the moll 
beautiful women in the country. With this view he or¬ 
dered his fubjedts to celebrate a grand feaft to Baal-Peor, 
and to invite the Ifraelites to it. At the feltivals of this 
idol the moll lliameful kinds of debauchery were praftifed; 
and the Ifraelites who attended on the prefent occafion 
had not the virtue to withftand the fafcinatingallurements 
of the females to whom they were introduced, but were 
feduced by them at firll to drunkennefs, afterwards to 
lewdnefs, and then to join in the rites of idolatrous wor- 
fliip; (ch. xxv.) With thefe deluders they became fo ena¬ 
moured, that they did not fcruple to bring numbers of 
them into their camp; by which means the infection foon 
fpread widely among the people. For this defeftion God 
punillied them with a peftiience, which carried oil’ twenty- 
three thoufand of the offenders; and he commanded 
Mofes to eredl a fpecial court of judicature, confifting of 
the heads of all the families, by whofe fentence a thou¬ 
fand more were condemned and executed. Soon after 
this fignal difplay of the divine judgment on rebellion 
and idolatry, Mofes was ordered to take an account of all 
the children of Ifrael who were able to bear arms, that 
is* 
