her mouth, and swallowed them up." Here also is recorded the budding of Aaron's rod, which determined the priesthood in the tribe of Le'vi. Of the retreat of the Israelites to the wilderness, of their wanderings there, and of the various stations of their encampments during so long a period, the record is less distinct. But after the lapse of thirty-eight years, when the former generation had almost entirely passed away, and a new race had arisen, hardened by the roving life of the Arab, and more fitted for achieving the conquest of Palestine, we find them at the same station of Kadesh-barnea again. Here died Miriam, Aaron's sister. Here, again, the people murmuring for water, Moses was commanded to speak to the rock, and water would come out; but instead of giving strict obedience to the command of God, he smote the rock twice with his rod, and for this act of disbelief was prohibited from entering the Land of Promise. Num. xiv. xvi. xx. xxxiii.

The King of Edom having refused to allow the Israelites to pass through his territories, they made a circuit to the south, in order to compass the land of Edom, and reach Canaan on the east. At Mount Hor, Aaron died, in the fifth month of the fortieth year from Egypt, and was succeeded in the priesthood by his son Elea'zar. At Zalmo'nah Moses erected the brazen serpent to cure those that had been bitten by fiery serpents. Sihon, king of the Am'orites, refusing a passage through his dominions, was attacked and defeated; and Og, king of Ba'shan, having attacked Israel, was likewise overthrown. The Israelites now encamped in the plains of Moab; and Balak, king of Moab, alarmed at their advance, sent for Ba'laam, the son of Beor, to curse them, but the angel of the Lord opposed his going, and the mouth of the ass was opened to rebuke her master. The countries of Sihon and Og were distributed to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. Moses now, by command of God, again numbered the people, who amounted to 601,730, besides the Levites, who were 23.000 males: but of all those who had been numbered at Sinai none remained save Caleb and Joshua. Moses having had a view of the Promised Land from Mount Nebo or Pisgah,

died there in his 120th year, and was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, "but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." This event took place in the twelfth month of the fortieth year after the departure from Egypt. Deut. xxxiv.

III. From the Death of Moses to the Election of Saul, the first King of the Israelites. 356 years.

A.M. 2553-2909.

B.C. 1447-1091.

JOSHUA, the son of Nun, of the tribe of Eph'raim, is first mentioned in Scripture as captain of the host sent against the Am'alekites at Mount Si'nai. His name was originally Hose'a or Ose'a, but changed by Moses, whose servant he was, into Jehoshua, contracted Joshua, Jeshua, or Jesus, signifying "Saviour." He continued the faithful companion and firm adherent of Moses for forty years, and previously to the death of that great lawgiver, was, by the Divine command, solemnly inaugurated as his successor. From Shittim Joshua led the Israelites to the banks of the Jordan, and the priests, bearing the ark of the covenant, having entered the river, the waters stood up on either side, and the people passed through on dry land. They encamped in Gil'gal, in the east border of Jericho, and there set up twelve stones as a memorial of the miraculous passage over the Jordan. Jos. iii. and iv.

Having taken Jericho, whose walls fell flat at the blast of the trumpets and the shouts of the people, and having destroyed A'i, their first attempt against which had been defeated for the sin of A'chan, the Hi'vites inhabiting Gib'eon, alarmed at their success, and dreading the fate of these cities, craftily obtained a treaty of peace from the princes of Israel. The five kings of the Am'orites, viz. the king of Jeru'salem, of He'bron, of Jarmuth, of La'chish, and of Eg'lon, incensed at the Gib'eonites for entering into a league with the invaders, came up to fight against them; but Joshua having come to their assistance, the five kings were totally defeated, and being taken from the

cave of Makke'dah, in which they had hid themselves after the battle, were hanged by the orders of Joshua. It was during this battle that the sun and the moon stood still. Joshua now took Makke'dah, Libnah, La'chish, Eg'lon, Hebron, and De'bir. Ja'bin, king of Ha'zor, having formed a great combination of the Canaanitish kings in the north (for in those days each city and village in Canaan had its own king), they assembled with hosts, " even as the sand upon the sea-shore in multitude, and with horses and chariots very many," and encamped" at the waters of Me'rom to fight against Israel." Joshua, coming suddenly upon them, defeated them in a great battle, and thus acquired possession of the greater part of the country, which he now proceeded to divide among the remaining nine tribes and a half. Jos. vi.-xiii.

After eight years occupied in these wars, the ark and the tabernacle were set up at Shiloh-Ca'leb received Hebron, the portion promised him by Moses-Joshua received his own portion at Tim'nath-se'rah on the mountain of Ga'ash-and the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, now returned to their own possessions on the east of the Jordan. To the tribe of Levi no inheritance was allotted the priesthood and the sacrifices were their inheritance. Forty-eight cities were, however, assigned to them—of these, six were cities of refuge. Joshua was eighty-four years old when he succeeded to Moses as leader of the people of Israel, and having been blessed of God to accomplish the promise made to Abraham 500 years before, he renewed the covenant between God and the people of Israel, and died at the age of 110 years. He was buried at Timnathserah. The bones of Joseph, which they had brought from Egypt, were buried at She'chem. "And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua." Jos. xiv.-xxiv.

No successor was appointed to Joshua, but for upwards of 300 years the people were governed by Judges, not in regular succession, but raised up as emergencies required. It was about this period that the Ben'jamites of Gibeah, for their brutal and flagitious conduct to the concubine of the Le'vite, drew upon themselves the vengeance

of the other tribes, and 25,000 of the Benjamites were slain. Mi'cah, the son of a rich widow, having set up a graven image, and made an ephod for a priest in his own house, became an occasion of falling to Israel. As a punishment for their idolatry they were subjected to their enemies; and Cu'shan-Rishatha'im, king of Mesopotamia, reduced them to servitude for eight years. Upon their repentance, Oth'niel, son of Ke'naz, was sent to their deliverance, who defeated the king of Mesopotamia, and set Israel free. About sixty years afterwards, Eglon, king of Moab, held them in bondage for eighteen years, when they were delivered by E'hud, who murdered the king of Moab. Their next oppression was from the hand of the Philis'tines, from whom they were delivered by Sham'gar. In the time of Shamgar, about 120 years after Joshua, occurred the incidents recorded in the book of Ruth. Obed, the son of Boaz and Ruth, was the father of Jes'se, and grandfather of David. Judges, xvii. xix. xx.

Ja'bin, King of Ha'zor, now oppressed the Israelites for twenty years; but Deb'orah the prophetess and Barak having defeated his general Sis'era, the Israelites were again delivered. Sis'era, having fled from the battle, was slain by Ja'el, Heber's wife. The people were next grievously oppressed by the Midianites, but a deliverer arose in the person of Gideon, son of Joash, of Manasseh; who, with 300 men, having entered the enemies' camp in the plain of Jez'reel at midnight, by the sound of their trumpets and the noise of their empty pitchers, created such consternation in the host of the Midianites, that every man's sword was turned against his fellow, and a total rout of their army was the consequence. After Abim'elech's brief reign of three years at Shechem, Tola judged Israel for twenty-three years, and Ja'ir for twenty-two, when the people again fell under the Philis'tines and the Am'monites. They were delivered by Jephthah the Gil'eadite, whose rash vow cost him the life of his daughterhis only child or at least consigned her to perpetual celibacy. The Eph'raimites, jealous of the tribes east of the Jordan, after this victory, went to war with the Gileadites, but were defeated by Jephthah; and those who escaped from the battle, when they presented themselves at

the fords of the Jordan, were desired to pronounce the word Shibboleth (an ear of corn), and upon their pronouncing Sibboleth, according to the language of their tribe, were discovered to be Eph'raimites, and put to death: thus 42,000 of them perished. Judges, iv.-xii. Jephthah judged Israel six years, Ibzan seven years, E'lon ten years, and Abdon eight years. To Abdon succeeded E'li, who was both high-priest and judge for forty years. During his feeble government Samson was the champion and defender of Israel. Samson was endowed with miraculous strength, and all his exploits were performed single-handed, for his countrymen had not the spirit to join him in resisting their oppressors. He was the son of Mano'ah, of the tribe of Dan; and his mother, who had been long barren, was directed by the angel who promised her the birth of a son, that she should not allow a razor to come upon his head. Samson having become attached to a damsel at Timnath, persisted, notwithstanding his parents' remonstrance against a union with a Philistine, in seeking her for his wife; and it was in one of his journies to Timnath that he met a young lion, which he tore in pieces as if it had been a young kid. Having married the damsel, and afterwards quarrelled with her relatives, she was wedded to another, and Samson, in revenge, destroyed the wheat-harvests of the Philistines. For this the Philistines burnt Samson's wife and her father with fire, and Samson, to avenge their deaths, smote the Philistines "with a great slaughter." He then took up his residence on the rock E'tam in Judah, and the men of Judah dreading the vengeance of the Philistines, surrounded the rock with 3000 men to seize him. Sam son consented that they should bind him with cords, and deliver him to the Philistines; but when thus bound in the hands of his enemies, he snapt the cords, and seizing a jaw-bone that lay near, he slew a thousand of the Philistines, and escaped. Having attached himself to Deli'lah, a woman of Gaza, the Philistines encompassed him there; but he " arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them to the top of a hill that is before Hebron." Delilah, bribed by the Lords of the Philistines,