CHAP. I. This book is entitled Numbers, because the numbering of the people is the leading transaction mentioned in it. This chapter commences the 34th section of the law. God spake to Moses in the Tabernacle of the congregation, according to his promise, "There will I commune with thee." Ex. xxv. 22. Having regulated their service and worship, he now lays down the laws for their form and order. In verse 2d Moses is commanded to take the sum or number of the people, according to their families. Israel were three times numbered by Moses, 1. in the first year of their redemption from Egypt, when every man paid a ransom for his soul; 2. The numbering which is here narrated ; and, 3. in the 40th year of their sojourning in the wilderness, after the present generation had all died, their sons were numbered before entering into the promised inheritance. In this reckoning, no strangers were included. This will remind the reader of those of the true Israel" who were written in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the world." When God enrolleth the people who are to possess the heavenly and incorruptible inheritance, he will reckon only those who are born of Zion, and belong to Jerusalem which is above, and is the mother of us all. And although foes and strangers, even an innumerable company which no man can number, shall appear with the Lamb on Mount Zion, it is in consequence of their heavenly birth, and being reckoned Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. We shall find the antetype of this numbering in Rev. vii. where the sealed of the Twelve Tribes are particularly mentioned.

In this numeration only those who are able to go forth to war are reckoned: the church is here in her state of warfare, terrible as an army with banners. The battles of old Israel were of a very different nature from the common hostilities among the nations of this world; thus, we read of waxing valiant in fight, as one of the fruits of the faith. The conflict here pointed at by the wars of Israel, is the good fight of faith, which the good soldiers of Jesus Christ are enrolled to fight, invested with the whole armour of God, by the word of truth, by the power of God, and by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left; 2 Cor. vi. 7. As the Old Testament Church were enrolled by their tribes, so the church of God fight under the banner of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. The twelve princes of the twelve tribes have an evident respect to these twelve apostles, of whom it is said in the 45th Psalm," Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou shalt ordain princes in all the earth." To these the Prophet refers when he says, "A king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall decree judgment." Isaiah xxxii. 1. The names of the princes of the tribes are so expressive and significant, that we have no doubt of the prophetic intent; and perhaps a similarity may be traced to the characters of the apostles. Of the tribe of

Reuben, Elizur was prince, and his name means The Rock (Christ) is my God; his father's name was Sheduer, i. e. Light from the Almighty. Of Simeon's tribe Shelumiel was prince, God is my recom pense: his father's name Zurishaddai; The Almighty is my Rock. Of Judah, Nahson was prince, or Naasson, Experience; his father's name Amminadab, i. e. My noble people. Of Issachar, Nathaniel, The Gift of God. Of Zebulon, Eliab was prince, My God the Father. Of Ephraim, Elishama, My God hath heard. Of Manasseh, Gamaliel, God is my reward. Of Benjamin, Abidan, My Father is Judge. Of Dan, Abiezer, The Brother's help. Of Ashur, Pagiel, God hath Of Gad, Elijasaph, My God hath added. Of Naphtali,

met me.

Ahira, my Brother's friend.

The order in which the tribes are arranged, is not unworthy of notice. In the first place, the eight sons of the free and married women, Leah and Rachel, and lastly the four sons of the handmaids or bondwomen. It is next remarkable that the five sons of the tender eyed Leah, the representative of the Old Testament Church, are first: then follows the sons of Rachel, that barren woman in Jacob's house, who became the joyful mother and figure of the Gentile Church. The same order is observed in the precious stones of the breast-plate, Ex. xxviii. The reader will also here observe, that Joseph has the first birth-right, that is a double portion, so of him are two tribes; 1 Chron. v. 1, 2. Gen. xlviii. 5, 6. Ephraim, the younger son, is also placed before Manasseh, according to dying Jacob's prophetic benediction.

Some have

In verse 16, the Princes are called men of renown. thought that the Princes of the Twelve Tribes, with Moses, Aaron, and Joshua, the heads of the congregation, correspond with the eight shepherds, (viz. the eight princes of the free woman,) and the seven principal men," or men of renown, mentioned Micah v. 5; which is also considered as referring to the twelve Apostles, with the three additional Pen-men of the New Testament. The Reader may observe Num. xvi. 2. as to the phrase men of renown. The word translated Prince, springs from the root to lift up, or exalt; they are called heads of thousands in Israel. The congregation was divided into thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens; each of which companies had their captain, and the chiefs of them were the captains of thousands. Exod. xviii. 21 and 25. Hence the expression "my thousand (our translation has it family, but the original in this and many similar texts is thousand;) is poor in Manasseh." Judg. vi. 15. In like manner the celebrated prophecy of the birth of our Lord in Bethlehem, of which it is said, “Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah." Micah, v. 2.

Of this enumeration it is a remarkable circumstance, that although every man in Israel above twenty years of age was numbered, yet of every tribe the sum came up in exact hundreds, except that of Gad, in which their is an odd fifty. In like manner the sealed of the tribes in Rev. vii. amount to exact thousands; plain

ly shewing that God's Elect are fore ordained and written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. That the exact number of every tribe was by divine appointment, will not be a matter of doubt with any who remember that it was the work of Him who says "Even the hairs of your head are all numbered." We shall only, however, request the Reader's attention to this remarkable circumstance, that the amount of the number. ing when they were formerly numbered, viz. the number of those for whose souls a ransom was paid, was exactly the same with the number now enrolled, for encamping round the Tabernacle. Compare Exodus xxxviii. 26. and you will find the amount of the number of ransomed souls to be 603,550, the same as in the passage before us, ver. 46: Can Infidelity herself say this was chance? It will also be remembered, that the tribe of Levi was in the first numbering, but not in the second. That the same infinite wisdom which so determined the number of the tribes that each should amount to exact hundreds or fifties, also determined the exact aggregate number of the whole, is unquestionable. We will farther maintain that the number of each tribe, as well as the exact number of the whole, had some definite important object in view. We will not, however, pretend to ascertain what this object was, but rather plead ignorance, than venture any conjectures which we cannot establish. Yet our ignorance does not prevent us from confi. dently asserting our belief that these exact numbers had a prophetical and instructive design. It is not unworthy of observation, that the word rendered appoint in verse 50, is the origin of the word Bishop, or Overseer: their particular charge will fall to be considered hereafter. The latter verses of this chapter states the reason for the tribe of Levi not being numbered, and the manner in which the sacred office of the priesthood was to be guarded.

CHAP. II.--Narrates the encamping of the Church of Israel; a subject highly meriting our closest attention.-It shall be our province here to shew, that in the encamping as here described, there was a grand representation of the church of the first born enrolled and mustered in heaven. It will be desireable, in the first place, to form an idea of the camp of Israel, its situation and appearance, according to the description here given of it. haps the following rough sketch may assist the reader in the con sideration of this interesting subject:

ed.

From this it will be seen, that in the centre stood the TABERNACLE, where God dwelt and walked among them. It was his presence which made their camp holy, and beholding which, Balaam exclaimed "The Lord his God is with him, the shout of the King is amongst them;" and thus the Daughter of Zion is exhorted to cry out and shout, that "Great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of her." Around the Tabernacle the Priests and ministering Levites attended, and at a distance of about two thousand cubits, (as appears from Joshua iii. 4.) the tribes encampIn allusion to this, and directing as to the antetype of this encampment, we read of the camp of the saints of the Most High, Rev. xx. 9. The Jerusalem which John saw descending from heaven was four square, the length as large as the breadth, Rev. xxi. 16. This was also the form shown in vision to Ezek. xlviii. 20. Still farther, the New Jerusalem has a wall great and high, and twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, Rev. xxi. 12; Not only so, but as there were three tribes on every side, so John saw, "Three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the

west, Rev. xxi. 13. Compare with this the remarkable prophecy, Ezek. xlviii. 31-34. We shall only farther trace this part of the parallel by mentioning, that as the twelve tribes, which thus form, in their tents or encampments, the wall of God's Tabernacle, had their father's names engraven on twelve sundry precious stones, so on the twelve foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem, we find the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, on twelve several precious stones. But there is no circumstance in all this remarkable representation, more entitled to our minute attention, than the standards of those tribes under which the Church of Israel were to encamp, as expressed in the 2d verse. "Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of his father's house." It will be observed, that although three tribes pitched on every side, the ensign of the centre tribe was that under which each of the three tribes pitched. Thus on the East side we find Issachar, Judah, and Zabulon, all of which were to pitch under the Ensign of Judah: In like manner on each of the other sides. By this arrangement, one Ensign or Standard appeared on every side. Although Revelation has not expressly mentioned what were the Ensigns of these Tribes, we have no reason to doubt the Talmudical tradition concerning them; viz. That the Ensign of Judah was a Lion,-of Ephraim, an Ox or Bullock,-of Reuben, Man,-of Dan, an Eagle.

The description of these Ensigns in Jonathan's Targum is curious, nor have we any reason to suspect its accuracy. "The Standard of Judah (says he) was of linen, of three colours, answering to the three precious stones in the breast-plate, viz. a Chalcedony, Sapphire, and Sardonyx. In it, surrounding the Lion, the names of the three tribes, Judah, Issachar, and Zabulon, were engraved or expressed; and in the midst thereof was written, "Rise up, Lord, let "thine enemies be scattered, let them that hate thee flee before thee. In like manner as to the other tribes. Chazkuni gives the following account of them: "The pourtraiture of a man was upon Reuben's standard, dyed after the colour of the sardine, set in the breastplate; and his name with the sign of his mandrakes which he found, Gen. xxx. 14. which are so called from their likeness to a man. The pourtraiture of a Lion was on Judah's standard, dyed in the colour of a chalcedony, agreeable to his father's prophecy concerning the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Gen. xlix. 9. The figure of a bullock or ox was on Ephraim's standard, dyed in his colour on the breast-plate, a beryl, and this agreeable to Moses blessing, Deut. xxxiii. 17. The figure of an eagle was dyed into the colour of a hyacinth on Dan's standard. Aben Ezra gives the very same account of the different standards, and adds these remarkable words, "So the ensigns were like the cherubim which Ezekiel saw."-We do not consider the traditions of the Jewish Rabbi of the slightest importance in any point of doctrine, but their united testimony on any point of historic fact, especially where there is no end in view by deceiving, must have considerable weight: We must therefore request our reader's attention to the appearance of

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