Richard Challoner

And thy father's house with thee, shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: That is, you shall be punished if, through negligence or want of due attention, you err in the discharge of the sacred functions for which you were ordained.

A covenant of salt: It is a proverbial expression, signifying a covenant not to be altered or corrupted; as salt is used to keep things from corruption; a covenant perpetual, like that by which it was appointed, that salt should be used in every sacrifice. Lev. 2.

Deadly sin: That is, sin which will bring death after it.

A red cow: This red cow, offered in sacrifice for sin, and consumed with fire without the camp, with the ashes of which, mingled with water, the unclean were to be expiated and purified; was a figure of the passion of Christ, by whose precious blood applied to our souls in the holy sacraments, we are cleansed from our sins.

The rock: This rock was a figure of Christ, and the water that issued out from the rock, of his precious blood, the source of all our good.

You have not believed: The fault of Moses and Aaron, on this occasion, was a certain diffidence and weakness of faith; not doubting of God's power or veracity; but apprehending the unworthiness of that rebellious and incredulous people, and therefore speaking with some ambiguity.

The Water of contradiction: Or strife. Hebrew, Meribah.

Anathema: That is, a thing devoted to utter destruction.

Very light food: So they call the heavenly manna: thus worldlings loathe the things of heaven, for which they have no relish.

Fiery serpents: They are so called, because they that were bitten by them were burnt with a violent heat.

A brazen serpent: This was a figure of Christ crucified, and of the efficacy of a lively faith in him, against the bites of the hellish serpent. John 3. 14.

The book of the wars: An ancient book, which, like several others quoted in scripture, has been lost.

To stay: His desiring them to stay, after he had been fully informed already that it was not God's will he should go, came from the inclination he had to gratify Balac, for the sake of worldly gain. And this perverse disposition God punished by permitting him to go (though not to curse the people as he would willingly have done), and suffering him to fall still deeper and deeper into sin, till he came at last to give that abominable counsel against the people of God, which ended in his own destruction. So sad a thing it is to indulge a passion for money.

Opened the mouth: The angel moved the tongue of the ass, to utter these speeches, to rebuke, by the mouth of a brute beast, the brutal fury and folly of Balaam.

Perverse: Because thy inclinations are wicked in being willing for the sake of gain to curse the people of whom I am the guardian.

Initiated to Beelphegor: That is, they took to the worship of Beelphegor, an obscene idol of the Moabites, and were consecrated, as it were, to him.

The sin of Phogor: The sin committed in the worship of Beelphegor.

Of the children: Women and children, ordinarily speaking, were not to be killed in war, Deut. 20. 14. But the great Lord of life and death was pleased to order it otherwise in the present case, in detestation of the wickedness of this people, who by the counsel of Balaam, had sent their women among the Israelites on purpose to draw them from God.

The mansions: These mansions, or journeys of the children of Israel from Egypt to the land of promise, were figures, according to the fathers, of the steps and degrees by which Christians leaving sin are to advance from virtue to virtue, till they come to the heavenly mansions, after this life, to see and enjoy God.

The most salt sea: The lake of Sodom, otherwise called the Dead Sea.