bed. And moreover, we have to take into consideration that
the supposed hatred which is said to have begotten this nar-
rative, is to be found nowhere else in the Pentateuch. On the
contrary, the Israelites are earnestly exhorted to keep sacred
the ties of blood by which they were connected with the
Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites ; to treat them as their
brethren ; to wrest not a foot-breadth of land from them ; comp.
Deut. ii. 3 et seq., 9 et seq. Even the wickedness which the
Moabites practised on the Israelites in bribing Balaam to curse
them, and in leading them to idolatry and prostitution by his
advice, is left unpunished on account of the bond of relation-
ship : the avenging war is directed only against the participators
in their guilt, the Midianites. It is just this interest of rela-
tionship which gives rise to the communication of the story.
