The History of Antiquity (Vol. 1-6). Duncker Max
drink it. And Moses came into the entrance of the camp and cried: Come to me, all who belong to Jehovah. Then the descendants of Levi gathered round him. Take everyone his sword at his side, he said to them; go from one gate of the camp to the other, and slay every man his brother, his friend, and his neighbour. And there fell on that day about 3,000 men of the people.
On the next morning Moses said: Ye have sinned a great sin; I will go up to Jehovah, perhaps I can appease him for your sin. And Jehovah said to Moses: Hew two stone tables like the others, and be ready in the morning, and appear before me on the top of the mountain. And Moses was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights, and ate no bread, and drank no water, and he wrote on the tables the ten commandments. Then he came down with the two tables of the law in his hand, and told the people the commandments which Jehovah had given him, and the laws; and the people answered: All that Jehovah has commanded we will do. Then Moses built an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes. And the young men slew burnt-offerings and thank-offerings, and the half of the blood Moses sprinkled on the altar, and with the other half he sprinkled the people, and said: This is the blood of the covenant which Jehovah makes with you over all laws.
Then Moses set up the tent of the assembly for a sanctuary of Jehovah, that He might dwell in their midst, as Jehovah had commanded, with planks of acacia wood on silver feet, and fastened them with silver bars; and on them he placed a cover of woven cloth of byssus, of a purple colour, and over this a second roof of red sheep-skins and seal-skins, and divided the tent by a curtain of blue and red purple, and carmine, and byssus, with cherubs woven upon it. And in the tent behind the second curtain he placed the ark of the law, as Jehovah had commanded, of acacia wood, overlaid with pure gold, and placed the law in the ark. Then Moses made a table of acacia wood, overlaid with pure gold, and placed bowls of pure gold upon it for the drink-offerings, and laid the sacrificial bread upon the table. And he made a candlestick of pure gold, with seven lamps, three on the one side and three on the other side of the candlestick. Then he made the altar of incense of acacia wood, overlaid with gold; and the altar of burnt sacrifice of acacia wood, as Jehovah commanded, and overlaid it with copper; and made the curtains for the court and the poles for the curtains of copper. The Israelites brought what was necessary for the erection and adornment of the shrine, and gave their nose-rings, ear-rings, seals, and ear-drops. And Moses made Aaron and his sons priests, and anointed the altars and all utensils with holy ointment, and sanctified the fire on the altar, and offered burnt-offerings. But two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, brought strange fire before Jehovah; then fire went forth from Jehovah and consumed them, and they died before Him. And the glory of Jehovah filled His habitation, and the cloud covered the tent of assembly; and when the cloud rose, the children of Israel set forth, and by night there was fire in the cloud.
In the second year after the exodus from Egypt, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud rose from the dwelling of the law, and the children of Israel set forth on their march out of the desert of Sinai, from the mountain of Jehovah, and they went three days' journey, and the cloud halted in the wilderness of Paran. And Jehovah bade Moses send men to search out the land of Canaan—one for each tribe from among the leaders. And from Ephraim Moses sent Joshua the son of Nun; and from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. Then the twelve princes set forth at the time of the first grapes, and came to Hebron and to the valley of Eshcol, and there cut a bunch of grapes and a vine, and carried them on a pole between two; and they also took of the pomegranates and the figs. After forty days they returned, and said to the people: The land into which you sent us flows with milk and honey, and these are its fruits. But the people is mighty, and their cities are large and fortified, and Amalek dwells in the land to the south, and the Hittites, and Jebusites, and Amorites dwell on the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and on the side of Jordan. And Caleb said: We will go up and overpower them; but the others said: We cannot go up against that people, for they are mightier than we; and the sons of Israel cried: Why should we fall by the sword, and our wives and children fall into the hand of the enemy; is it not better to return to Egypt? Then Jehovah said to Moses: All those who have murmured against me shall not enter into the land wherein I have lifted up my hand to cause you to dwell. Your bodies shall lie in the desert, save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun; and your children shall pasture their flocks in the desert forty years: forty years shall my face be turned from you. And Moses told these words to the children of Israel. But the Israelites ventured to rise up and went to the heights of the mountains on the way towards Atharim. But the Amalekites and Canaanites who dwelt on the mountains came down and smote them, and scattered them as far as Hormah.
And Korah of the tribe of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram of the tribe of Reuben, and two hundred and fifty of the foremost men, heads of families and officers of the community, assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron, and said: Why do ye lift yourselves up against the people? And to Moses they said: Is it not enough that thou hast led us out of Egypt, to slay us in the desert? Wilt thou also make thyself a ruler over us? But the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up. On the next morning the people murmured in the assembly against Moses and Aaron, and said: Ye have slain them. But Jehovah said to Moses: Go out from this company; I will destroy them suddenly. Then the plague began. At Moses' command Aaron took the censer of incense and offered incense to purify the children of Israel; and he stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was stayed. But there died fourteen thousand and seven hundred.
The children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, and Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying: Let us pass through thy land; we will go along the highway, and turn neither to the right hand nor to the left. But Edom went to meet them with mighty hosts and a powerful hand, and Israel retired before him, and went from Kadesh to Mount Hor, and from Mount Hor to the reed-sea. Then the people became impatient on the way, and murmured against Moses, and Jehovah sent the serpents, the saraphs, among the people, and many died. Then the Israelites saw that they had sinned, and Moses prayed for the people and made a serpent of copper, and set it up on a pole, and all who were bitten by the serpents and looked upon the image of copper were saved. From the reed-sea the Israelites went again to the north, towards Oboth and Beer, to the well which the princes dug. Then Israel sang: "Rise up, O fountain, meet him with songs; O well which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people hollowed out with their sceptre and their staves." And from Beer they went to Bamoth, and from Bamoth to Pisgah, which rises over the desert. And Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in his city at Heshbon, gathered all his people and went to meet Israel in the desert, and came towards Jahaz, and strove with Israel. Then Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, laid waste the land, and took the cities. And Israel sang: "Fire went forth from Heshbon, and flames from the city of Sihon; we shot at them, we laid waste the land to Nophah, we burnt it with fire to Medeba." Then the Israelites turned and went up against Og, the king of the Amorites of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth Karnaim, and smote him at Edrei, and his sons and all his people, and his cities were taken, and not a fugitive escaped. From Bashan Israel went southwards, and encamped in the plains of Moab at Shittim; and they began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab, and served Baal Peor. And Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, pierced with his spear Zimri, a captain of the tribe of Simeon, as he lay with a Midianitish woman, and slew both with one thrust through the belly. And Jehovah said to Moses: Go up to Mount Abarim and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel, and when thou hast seen it, thou shalt be gathered to thy people. Take Joshua, the son of Nun, and lay thy hand on him, and place him before Eleazar the priest (the son of Aaron), and before all the people, so that all may obey him; and Eleazar shall inquire of Jehovah for him, and as he commands he shall go out and in. And Moses did as Jehovah commanded. And the sons of Reuben and Gad said to Moses: The land which Jehovah has smitten before Israel is a land for flocks, and thy servants have flocks; and to them, and half of the tribe of Manasseh, Moses gave the land of Gilead. And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, over against Jericho, and Jehovah caused him to see the whole land from Gilead to Dan, and from Jericho to Zoar. And there Moses died, a hundred and twenty years old. But his eyes were not dim, nor had his strength forsaken him. The Israelites mourned for Moses thirty days in the plains of Moab, and henceforth there was no prophet in Israel like Moses; and to this day no man knows the grave of Moses.
In those portions which deal with the abode and fortunes of the Hebrews in the desert, the two texts were less closely