CONTENTS OF VOL. III. SECOND STEP TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION. SOJOURN OF ISRAEL IN ARABIA PETRÆA, AND THE FIELD OF MOAB; Geographical Survey of the Road to Rephidim and the Country round Sinai, 61 Preparations for Giving the Law and Concluding the Covenant, Promulgation of the Fundamental Law, ISRAEL IN THE DESERT OF PARAN, Negotiations for a Renewal of the Broken Covenant, The Law of Sacrifice and the Institution of the Levitical Priesthood, The Place of Burning, and the Graves of Lust, The Spies sent into the Promised Land, Rebellion of the People and Judgment of God at Kadesh, Rebellion of the Korah Faction, and Confirmation of the Aaronic Priest- Conquest of the Land on the East of the Jordan, Conflict with the Midianites, . Division of the Land on the East of the Jordan. Regulations with re- Principal Matters, Passages of Scripture, SECOND STEP TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION. SOJOURN OF ISRAEL IN ARABIA PETREA, VOL. III. AND THE FIELD OF MOAB; OR, THE GIVING OF THE LAW. A PERIOD OF 40 YEARS. PART I. HISTORICAL GROUNDWORK, AND CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH THE GIVING OF THE LAW. A THE OLD COVENANT. GENERAL REMARKS. § 1. FROM the time of the Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites had borne the character of a redeemed people, a people delivered by the strong hand of their God from the house of bondage, where the chosen seed, through which all nations of the earth were to be blessed, had been treated with contempt as a worthless mob, and oppressed as a horde entirely destitute of rights. But now, not only had Jehovah liberated the captive maid from the house of bondage, but He had also selected her as His bride; and was leading her to the marriage-altar at Sinai, where the covenant was to be concluded, the result of which would be the birth of children like the morning dew. From Sinai, again, He led her as His bride into His own house, to His own hearth, into the land flowing with milk and honey. Thus the sojourn in the desert may be regarded under the aspect of the marriage state, as setting before us a picture of wedded love. And in the prophecies of Jeremiah (ii. 2, 3) Jehovah is represented as saying, "I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after Me in the desert, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness to the Lord, the first-fruits of his increase. All that devoured him, offended; evil came upon them, saith the Lord.” According to another figure, Israel was Jehovah's first-born son (vol. ii. § 21), brought forth, under the anguish of the |