to 80 years.  Psalm 91, on the other hand, speaks of the Lord's protecting

care over the children that Israel said had been but brought out of Egypt to

become a prey in the wilderness.  To them were the promises made:

'Thou shalt not be afraid ... a thousand shall fall at thy side, and

ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee' (Psa.

'That generation' which perished in the wilderness is referred to many

times in solemn contexts.  We meet it in Psalm 95, which belongs to the same

group as do Psalms 90 and 91.

'To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart ... Forty

years long was I grieved with this generation ... I sware in My wrath

that they should not enter into My rest' (Psa. 95:7-11).

Just as death and resurrection are symbolized by the two birds of

Leviticus 14:4-7, or the two goats of Leviticus 16:5-10, so death and

resurrection could be set forth in

the dying out of the generation that came out of Egypt, including both Aaron

and Moses, and the preservation of the next generation and their entry into

the promised land.  This symbolism is further enforced by two other typical

occurrences that must now be noted.

Back to Adam.--

'The waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap,

a great way off, at Adam, the city which is beside Zarethan: and those

that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were

wholly cut off' (Josh. 3:16 R.V.).

Surely there can be no hesitation in the mind that the name of the city

of Adam here is of more than merely geographical accuracy!  This city is said

to be near Zaretan, otherwise called Zeredathah (2 Chron. 4:17) Zarthan (1

Kings 7:46).  It is mentioned in 1 Kings 7:46 as the place chosen for the

casting of pots, shovels, basons and other brasen vessels,

'In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground

between Succoth and Zarthan'.

Here the word 'ground' is the Hebrew adamah, the word used in Genesis

2:7.  The doctrine of the epistle to the Romans is thus anticipated.

Moreover, the waters that flow down to the Dead Sea are said to have been

'cut off' (Josh. 4:7).  This is the word used by the prophet Daniel when

speaking of the death of Christ, saying:

'shall Messiah be cut off' (Dan. 9:26).

We have already drawn attention to the fact that, whereas at the Red

Sea Israel are said to have 'passed over', at the Jordan they are said to

have 'clean passed over', the added word being the Hebrew tamam; so we

observe that these waters of Jordan were not only 'cut off' but that they

'failed', which is in the original this same word tamam, emphasizing as it

does, the additional word 'clean', the 'perfect finish' of the redemptive

purpose.  To read Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 in the light of these

references to Adam and the Dead Sea must surely cause us to rejoice in the

fulness of the Word of Truth.