Moab, who prompted the Israelites to sin, were excluded from coming into the fold of Israel, even unto the tenth generation (Deut. xxvi.). Further, the Israelites were told, when going out to war, to offer peace first when approaching a town; but not so with the Midianites, whom they were commanded to attack and smite.

DEUTERONOMY RABBA

Moses declared (Exod. iv.) that he was not a man of words, but observe his eloquence in the book of Deuteronomy; an eloquence acquired since he gained possession of the Torah.

The rebukes which the Israelites received from Moses would seem to have been more appropriately given by Balaam, and Balaam's blessings would, it seems, have been more fittingly uttered by Moses. But the admonition, if it had come from Balaam, would have had no effect upon the Israelites, who would naturally have concluded that they were the result of his animosity. If, again, Moses had spoken those blessings and words of praise, others would have belittled them as emanating from the warm friendship of the warm-hearted Moses. But Moses's rebukes could not have failed to be laid to heart by the Israelites, coming from such a tried friend; and Balaam's blessings could by no means be construed by others as arising from partiality to the chosen people.

The proper qualification of a judge is the possession of the following virtues: he must be an able man, God-fearing, a man of truth, free from covetousness, a wise man, a man of understanding, and known amongst his people. If no such man can be found for the position, then one not the happy possessor of all the qualities enumerated may be chosen.

God has a seal, and his seal is truth.

A community rejecting the leadership of the great and selecting as its leaders insignificant individuals can only be compared to the serpent which decided to creep along tail foremost, in consequence of which it was hurt by thorns, burned by fire, and injured by water; a community should not be led by one man only. Moses himself confessed his inability to lead single-handed.

In futurity the righteous will stand on a higher level than angels.

If sorrows overtake you, receive them with fortitude and resignation.

In reply to his disciples who asked how far honoring of parents should go, Rabbi Eliezer the Great related to them that a man named Douma, whose mother's mind was demented, so that she took a delight in grossly insulting him in public, had invariably only these words to answer her: Enough, mother." This same man was the possessor of some valuable precious stones, some of which men from Ashkelon came to purchase of him, to replace some which had fallen out and been lost from the priest's breast-plate.

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When he looked for the box containing the precious stones, he found that his father lying down in sleep had his feet on the little box. He declined to disturb his father's sleep, and would not bring out the jewels to show to the would-be purchasers. They, thinking that a big price would induce him to part with the stones, and knowing them to suit the purpose for which they wanted them, offered him a much larger price than was their value. Whilst they were arguing the father woke up; and when the men wanted to pay the son the increased price spontaneously offered, he refused to accept more than the original price, on the ground that the increase of the money offered was due to their belief that he would not part with the jewels for the figure they first named, whereas in reality he would not show them the stones because by so doing he would have had to disturb his father, and he wanted no payment for filial duty.

There were several incidents which brought about the redemption from Egypt. (1) There was the Israelites' distress (Exod. ii. 23). (2) They supplicated God, which means repentance on their part. (3) There was the covenant with their fathers, which God remembered. (4) There was God's compassion. (5) The end of their captivity had arrived.

And the same will be the reasons of the last redemption. (1) Because of the sorrow Israel will find himself in; (2)

because of repentance; (3) God's mercy; (4) he will remember the covenant of the Patriarchs, etc.

The word "prayer" is a very wide term, and may mean prayer properly so called, or beseeching, crying, sighing, pleading, supplication, or petition. It can also be applied to adoration, praise, and exaltation. It requires discrimination in its use. Thus we find that Job, the most righteous amongst non-Jewish prophets, had not employed the best phrases in its exercise. The words he used are: "I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with argument (Job xxiii. 4).

Contrast this with the manner of prayer adopted by Moses and Isaiah. The former tells his people, "I besought the Lord" (Deut. iii. 23). Isaiah commenced his prayer with the words, "O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee" (Isa. xxxiii. 2).

There is no time fixed when one can say he expects his prayer to be answered; we have indeed no claim on God's mercy, and must leave the answering of our prayers to God's own good time. Moses, for instance, was answered after praying for forty days (Deut. ix. 25). Daniel's prayer was heard after twenty days (Dan. x. 3). Jonah was answered after the lapse of three days (Jon. ii.), Elijah in one day (1 Kings xviii. 37). David, on occasions, received answers to his prayers as soon as he prayed (Ps. lxix. 14); and there is an answering to prayer even before the petition is sent up heavenward (Isa. lxv. 24).

Moses could not understand why his craving to enter the land of promise, to lay his bones there, should not be satisfied, since Joseph had his wish granted and had his bones taken up and buried in Palestine. He was supplied with a tangible reason. Joseph, he was told, in all his vicissitudes never denied his race or his country, but, on the contrary, seems to have felt a pride in calling himself a Hebrew; so that it was but fitting that he should have his sepulcher in the land of which he was so proud. With Moses it was different. He posed as an Egyptian-Jethro's daughters mentioned him as an "Egyptian man," and thereby he forfeited his right to

have his resting-place in a country which he did not acknowledge.

Consider the immeasurable distance from us of what we know as God's dwelling-place, the heavens; yet how near he is to us when we call upon him.

"What is the meaning," R. Samuel, son of Nachman, was asked, "of David praying to God to hear him in an acceptable time?" "The gates of prayer," replied the Rabbi, "may sometimes be closed, in contradistinction of the gates of repentance, which are never closed."

"There seems to be more than one Creator," said a skeptic to Rabbi Samuel. "Is it not written in the beginning Elohim (the plural) created heaven and earth'? Further, 'Let us make man in our likeness." " "Do you find it said," returned the sage, "they created, or are we told they saw or they said, or that man was formed in their image? In each instance you find the singular, and the Elohim' is applied to him in whom is combined all power and all might."

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People are prone to imitate their superiors and their teachers, hence the great and serious responsibility of religious teachers as to their conduct. There can be no greater injury to religion than that its teachers should disregard its teachings.

"I have created some things in pairs," says God, "such as heaven and earth, the sun and the moon, Adam and Eve, male and female in all animals, this life and the future life; but I am One." He that proclaims the absolute unity of God proclaims the kingdom of heaven.

In vain have you acquired knowledge if you do not impart knowledge to others.

God filleth the world, and the human soul filleth the human body. God supports the world, and the soul supports the body. God is unique in the world, the soul is unique in the body. God neither sleepeth nor slumbereth; the soul neither sleepeth nor slumbereth. God is pure, the soul is pure. God seeth and can not be seen; the soul seeth and can not be seen. Let the soul, which so far possesses the attributes of the Lord, praise and worship the Lord.