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Of what was it possessed?
How long was it to sub-

sist?

From what tribe was Jesus Christ to be born?

Who was Joseph ? What happened to Joseph ?

Who were jealous of, and hated him?

To what situation did God raise him up?

By whose means?

rity, and was to subsist till the coming of Jesus Christ, from which also Jesus Christ was to be born.

Joseph (a) one of the sons of Jacob, having been sold and carried into Egypt through the jealousy and hatred of his brethren, God raised him up to the chiefest dignity of that kingdom, by the means of the king of the country. Some years after,

What was the name of the Jacob, the father of Joseph,

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was constrained by the famine that was in the land of Canaan, to go and sojourn in Egypt, with all his family. About this time lived Job, a man illustrious for his piety and patience under afflic tions.

After the death of Jacob (b) and Joseph, the children of Israel increased and multiplied so exceedingly in Egypt, that king Pharaoh became jealous of them, and endeavoured to destroy them. But God sent Moses, who having wrought many miracles, and smote Egypt with ten plagues, obliged Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of his territories. This departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt, happened four hun

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(a) Gen. xxxvii. &c.
(b) Exod. i. &c.

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What time is contained in the 4th chapter of this book?

What did the children of Israel walk upon when they came out of Egypt? Through what sea?

What did God then work in favour of the Israelites ? A. A miracle. Who pursued them? What happened to Pharaoh ?

How long after the deliverance from Egypt did God publish the ten commandments?

Where did he publish them?

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dred and thirty years after the call of Abraham.

CHAPTER IV.

Of the time between the going out of Egypt, and the building of Solomon's Temple.

The children of Israel being come out of Egypt, walked upon dry (a) land through the Red Sea! and Pharaoh who pursued them, attempting to go through after them, was there drowned with all his army. Fifty days after the deliverance from Egypt, God published the (b) ten commandments of the Law upon Mount Sinai. He afterwards gave the political laws to Moses, as also the ceremonial laws which the Israelites were to observe. God did not suffer the children of Israel to enter into the land of Canaan immediately after their coming out of Egypt, but they

(a) Exod. xii. xiv. &c. (b) Exod. xx. &c.

What did God not suffer the children of Israel to do immediately?

Where did they stay?
How long?

Why were they to remain so long in the wilderness? A. As a punishment for their disobedience.

Under whose conduct or guidance ?

When did Moses die? Who succeeded Moses? What did Joshua do when he had subdued the nations and kings that inhabited the land of Canaan?

By whom were the people governed after the death of Joshua?

Who was the last of these Judges ?

Whom did Samuel set up as the first king of the Israelites?

Who reigned after Saul? What was David besides a king?

What do you mean by a prophet?

Who succeeded David? What did Solomon build? How long after the coming out of Egypt was the temple built?

How long before the coming of Jesus Christ?

CHAPTER V.

What space of time is contained in the 5th chapter?

Who was set on the throne after Solomon's death?

stayed in the wilderness for

ty years, under the conduct of Moses.

Moses dying at the end of these forty years (a) Joshua succeeded him; and after having subdued the nations and kings that inhabited the land of Canaan, he settled the Israelites in their stead. After the death of Joshua, this people were governed by the Judges that God raised from time to time, until the prophet Samuel (who was the last of the judges) set up Saul the first king of the Israelites. After Saul reigned David, who was both a king and a prophet: to whom succeeded Solomon his son, who built the temple of Jerusalem four hundred and fourscore years after the coming out of Egypt, and about a thousand years before the coming of Jesus Christ.

(a) Josh. i. &c.

CHAPTER V.

Of the time between the building of Solomon's Temple, and the Captivity of Babylon.

What did the ten tribes of Israel then do ?

What do you mean by "revolted?"

A. Rebelled, or departed from their duty to their king. How many tribes then did Rehoboam reign over?

Which were those two tribes ?

How many kingdoms were thus formed?

What were the names of the two kingdoms?

A. Israel and Judah. What did the kingdom of Israel comprehend?

Of what did the kingdom of Judah consist?

How long did the kingdom of Israel subsist?

Who was the first king of it?

What did Jeroboam fear? What did he do to prevent it?

What did he make for this purpose?

Had not the people of Israel a right to keep their solemn festivals wherever they pleased?

A. No; they were commanded to keep their solemn festivals only at Jerusalem.

Under whose name did they worship the golden calves?

What did Jeroboam appoint?

What was therefore es

After Solomon's death (a) Rehoboam his son being set on the throne, the ten tribes of Israel revolted; so that he ruled over two tribes only, which were those of Judah and Benjamin. Thus, there were two kingdoms formed, the one called the kingdom of Israel, which comprehended the ten revolted tribes, the other called the kingdom of Judah, which consisted of the two tribes that remained faithful to Rehoboam.

The kingdom of Israel subsisted about two hundred and fifty years; Jeroboam was the first king of it. This prince, fearing that his subjects would return to the obedience of Rehoboam, king of Judah, when they should go to Jerusalem on the solemn festivals to worship God in the temple, and to offer their sacrifices there, set up a false worship in his kingdom. He made two golden calves, which they worshipped under the name of the God of Israel. He appointed solemn feasts and priests; so that in the reign of Jeroboam and his successor, idolatry was established in the kingdom of Israel. All the kings of Israel were idolaters, and

(a) 1 Kings xii. &c.

tablished in the kingdom of Israel?

What is idolatry? What were all the kings of Israel?

What kind of worship did they keep up?

Whom did God send to the ten tribes?

For what purpose? Who was the most eminent of these prophets? In whose time did he prophesy?

What kind of king was Ahab?

What became at last of the kingdom of the ten tribes?

What was the name of

their capital city?

What became of their their capital city?

In whose time was it taken? Who was Hosea? By whom was it taken? Whither did he carry the ten tribes?

Where were they dispersed from thence?

Where have they never again been settled?

How much longer did the kingdom of Judah last than the kingdom of Israel?

What was the capital city of this kingdom?

Who was served there in the temple of Solomon ?

What crept in also into the kingdom of Judah?

kept up the false worship which Jeroboam had established. God sent several prophets to the ten tribes, to turn them from their sins, and to preserve the knowledge of himself among them. The most eminent of these prophets was Elijah.

He prophesied in the time of Ahab, who was one of the wickedest of the kings of Israel. At last the kingdom (a) of the ten tribes was destroyed, and Samaria, their capital city, was taken in the time of Hosea, the last king of Israel, by Salmaneser, king of Assyria, who carried away the ten tribes into his own kingdom, from whence they were dispersed into divers countries, and have never since been settled again in their own land.

The kingdom of Judah lasted an hundred and thirty years longer than that of Israel. The capital city of this kingdom was Jerusalem, where the true God was served in the temple of Solomon. But idolatry crept in also into the kingdom of Judah. God raised up prophets from time to time, who opposed the errors and sins of that people, who

(a) 2 Kings xvii.

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