towards the way of the wilderness, still they could not escape, for "the battle overtook them; and the men of Israel inclosed the Benjamites round about, and trode them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sun-rising. And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men: all these were men of valour. That is, this number was slain in the field of battle; but to these must be added five thousand who were taken and slain on the highways; and also two thousand who were pursued to a place called Gidom, and slain there; so that, omitting smaller numbers, there fell of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand valiant men. And the only remnant which escaped of their whole army, were six hundred men, who escaped to the rock Rimmon, where they abode four months. The children of Israel, not contented with the signal vengeance taken on Benjamin, by the destruction of all their men of war, carried desolation into their country, "and smote the people with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand." It would seem that the whole army of Israel were now filled with such indignation against the whole tribe of Benjamin, for their wicked conduct in screening the men of Gibeah from deserved punishment, and were actuated by so strong a desire to revenge the death of the forty thousand men of Israel slain in the first two battles, that they proceeded to consign to utter destruction the whole of this tribe on whom they could lay their hands. But when the violence of their wrath began to cool, and they reflected on what they had done, and that one of the twelve tribes had perished from Israel, they were penetrated with grief, and went up to the house of God at Shiloh, "and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices and wept sore; and said, O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel? And on the morrow the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings."

SECTION XXXIII.

JABESH-GILEAD SEVERELY PUNISHED FOR REFUSING AID-THE YOUNG VIRGINS OF THIS PLACE ONLY PRESERVED, FOR WIVES TO THE SURVIVING BENJAMITES—THE DAUGHTERS OF SHILOH SEIZED AND CARRIED OFF FOR THE SAME PURPOSE.

THERE was another affair which now engaged their attention, and which eventually was made to have a connexion with the preservation of the tribe of Benjamin from becoming utterly extinct. When the people had first assembled from the tribes of Israel, on the unhappy occasion which has been mentioned, they were inspired with such a zeal against the Benjamites that

they entered into a solemn oath that none of them would give them their daughters for wives; and they moreover swore, that whatever city had neglected to come up with the congregation unto the Lord unto Mizpeh, the inhabitants thereof should surely be put to death. And when the people were numbered, it appeared that none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead were there; and in fulfilment of the great oath by which they had rashly bound themselves, they now despatched twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children. They were, however, directed to save alive and bring back with them all the young virgins whom they might find, that they might serve for wives to the small remnant of the men of Benjamin, who were known to be concealed in the rock Rimmon. This expedition speedily and literally executed their orders upon the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead, and returned with four hundred virgins. The congregation of Israel now entered into a negotiation with the six hundred Benjamites in the rock Rimmon: and they entered. into a treaty of peace with them, and gave them for wives the females who had been saved alive from Jabesh-gilead; but as their number was six hundred, and the women were only four hundred, there was still a deficiency of wives for the remnant of Benjamin. The human passions are prone to oscillate from one extreme to another. The indignation which had burned so hotly and destructively against this unhappy tribe, was now turned into the tenderest compassion, and with compunction for the severity which led them nearly to extirpate one of the tribes. of Israel. Therefore "the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped from Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel." The device which was now adopted to supply the deficiency of wives for these men, bears a strong resemblance to the rape of the Sabines by the Romans, at a later period. There was shortly to be a feast at Shiloh, on which occasion it was customary for companies of young damsels to amuse themselves by dancing in the vineyards, which were on the way between Bethel and Shechem. In this place the Benjamites were directed to lie in wait, and to catch every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and to bear them off to the land of Benjamin. And the elders of Israel promised that when the fathers or brethren of the daughters of Shiloh came to make complaint, we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes. And the men of Benjamin did so,

and took wives according to their number, whom they caught, and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.

SECTION XXXIV.

HISTORY OF RUTH, AND NAOMI HER MOTHER-IN-LAW.

FROM the Bible history we learn, that the occurrence of famine was no uncommon event in Judea. If there was a failure of the former or latter rains, there was of course a deficiency in the productions of the earth: the first of these rains occurred in autumn, about the time of sowing the winter grain; the last in the spring, when the wheat and barley were coming to maturity. Between these seasons, during the summer months, very little rain fell; a shower in harvest was reckoned an extraordinary occurrence. As the land was filled with a dense population, a famine was a fearful calamity, and occasioned a miserable death to many. The usual method of avoiding it was to flee to some of the neighbouring countries, where bread was in abundance. Thus, on one of these emergencies, during the government of the Judges, a man of Beth-lehem-judah, whose name was Elimelech, took his wife Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, and went and abode in the land of Moab. But whilst he fled from death in one form, it overtook him in another, soon after his emigration. Often families are induced to seek new habitations on account of the pressure of particular evils, but while they escape difficulties of one kind, they are apt to fall into others not less grievous. This man was in good circumstances in Judea, but in a strange land his property wasted away, and his own life was cut short. As might have been expected also, his sons formed matrimonial alliances with the daughters of Moab, which kind of connexions, in all ages, have been a snare to the people of God. Here, also, they were far removed from the house and ordinances of Jehovah, and exposed to all the abominations of idolatry. Calamities frequently come in clusters. After a sojourn of about ten years, both these young men died also in the land of Moab, it would seem nearly about the same time. Thus was Naomi bereaved of her husband and her two sons, and left destitute in a foreign country. The name of one of her daughters-in-law was Orpah, and of the other Ruth, who after the decease of their husbands chose to live with Naomi; and they seem to have formed a strong attachment to their mother-in-law; for when she, upon hearing that the Lord had visited his people in the land of Judea, in giving them bread, resolved to return to her native country, these young women, although they had

parents of their own, insisted upon accompanying her. But as she was reduced to poverty, and had no prospect of any easy method of support, begged them to relinquish the idea of going with her, and to return each to her mother's house. "Go, said she, "return each to her mother's house; the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. The Lord grant that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept. And they said, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters, why will ye go with me? Are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to-night, and should also bear sons, would ye tarry for them till they were grown? Would ye stay for them from having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for it grieveth me much for your sakes, that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me. And they lifted up their voice and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." When Naomi saw that her determination was fixed, she ceased from all further attempts to dissuade Ruth from going along with her.

After this tender scene, the two widows, poor and desolate, travelled on until they came to Beth-lehem, the former residence of Naomi, from which she, with her husband, had emigrated many years before. The inhabitants of the place were greatly excited when they recognized their old neighbour again restored to them after so long an absence. But they could with difficulty be persuaded that she was indeed the identical person whom they had once known as a resident among them. Doubtless, time and sorrow had made a great change in Naomi's person; and her condition as well as her person was sadly altered. No wonder, therefore, they said to one another, with surprise and some degree of doubt, "Is this Naomi?" When the afflicted widow heard her old neighbours address her by this name, the import of which is "pleasant," she said with emotion, "Call me not Naomi, call me Mara," the meaning of which is "bitter:" "for," said she, "the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again

empty. Why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?" The time of the arrival of Naomi and Ruth at Beth-lehem was, "in the beginning of barley-harvest." Thus that death from which Elimelech and his sons fled, overtook them in the land where they sojourned; and that poverty, the dread of which had induced them to leave the holy land, now came heavily upon the family. Their substance had wasted away in a foreign country; so that when Naomi returned, she was in a state of abject poverty. This circumstance will account for the earnestness with which she entreated her daughters-in-law to return and live with their friends; and it furnishes strong evidence of the strength of Ruth's attachment to her, or rather the strength of that piety towards the God of Israel which animated her breast. Naomi, however, had rich relations in Bethlehem, but possessing an independent spirit she would not obtrude herself upon their attention, much less solicit any favours from them.

But Naomi, though poor and desolate, trusted in God, and was blessed with a daughter-in-law who loved her most tenderly, and was not ashamed to labour for her subsistence. As these widows had no harvest to gather in, their only resource for a living was to avail themselves of that provision made for the poor in the law of Moses, by which they were permitted to follow the reapers, and glean such handfuls as they happened to drop, or such stalks as were left standing in the corners of the field. Ruth, of her own accord, proposed to engage in this work; and it so happened, that the first field into which she entered, belonged to a near relation of her mother-in-law, whose name was Boaz, and who was a man of extensive property and wealth. Boaz appears to have been a man of piety as well as wealth; for when he came out of Beth-lehem to the field to see the reapers, his salutation was, "The Lord be with you." And their answer corresponded with the piety of the master's salutation; for they said, "The Lord bless thee." There is something exceedingly pleasing in these ancient forms of pious intercourse. Very different is often the language of reapers and their employers in the harvest-field in our day. The attention of Boaz was now directed to Ruth, whom he had not before seen; and he inquired of the overseer of the reapers, "Whose damsel is this?" To whom the servant answered, "It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And she said, I pray you let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves, so she came and hath continued even from the morning until now. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter, go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after