prey, shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the and drink the blood of the slain." MAMMA. This and other passages of the same kind are a manifest prophecy of the victories which the Israelites should gain over their enemies, particularly the Canaanites, and of their secure possession and quiet enjoyment of the land afterwards, especially in the reigns of David and Solomon. CHARLES. "And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speaketh that I must do ?" МАММА. Here it seems might come in the conversation between Balak and Balaam given by the pro 1 phet Micah, when, remonstrating with the Israelites on their unkindness and ingratitude, he, speaking in the name of the Lord, exclaims, " O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord.” Then Balak is supposed to ask, "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" Then the answer of Balaam, "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? "* CHARLES. Mamma, how comes this conversation to be related by the prophet Micah, and not by Moses in the chapter we are now examining? MAMMA. Different opinions have been given on the subject. To me it seems most probable that it was imaginary on the part of the prophet Micah; as if he had asked, whether they did not suppose that Balak would have performed any superstitious ceremonies, or have consented to give any thing that might be required from him, in order to obtain his desire; and the reply which he puts into the mouth of Balaam would tend, like many other passages of Holy Scripture, to demonstrate that nothing short of *Micah vI. 5-8. entire holiness and unreserved obedience to the will of God could be pleasing to the Supreme Being. I will read you some of those parallel passages, and then we will return to the original subject of our consider ation. Moses, after recounting God's mercies, exhorts the Israelites to obedience in these words, "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?" * God's approbation of Abraham is expressed in these words, "For I * Deuteronomy x. 12, 13. know him, that he will command his children and his houshold after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him."* Samuel, remonstrating with Saul for his disobedience, said, “ Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."† Isaiah, exhorting the people of Judah to repentance and righteous"Hear the word of the doing, says, Lord,——To what -To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed * Gen. xvII. 19. † 1 Samuel xv. 22. |