When Moses, who had been now forty days on the mount, learned from the Lord the crime of which the people had been guilty, he hastily descended toward the camp; as he approached, the sight of the people, dancing round the object of their stupid veneration, filled him with such wrath that he broke the tables of stone on which the Ten Commandments had been graven by "the finger of God." The tribe of Levi, which seems not to have participated in the national guilt, slew three thousand of the worst criminals; the idol was broken to pieces, and the people compelled to drink the water with which its dust had been mingled; and atonement having been made for the sin, Moses again ascended the mountain, and, after an absence of forty days, returned with two new tables of commandments, in place of those that had been broken.

Having broken up the encampment at Sin'ai, the Israelites directed their march to the frontiers of Canaan; but notwithstanding all the signs and wonders that had been wrought in their favor, they broke out into acts of rebellion against Moses, and on every trifling occasion provoked, by their seditions, severe chastisements from the righteous anger of the Almighty; until, at length upon the very borders of the promised land, for their rebellious murmurings at the report of the spies, the Lord ordained that none of the existing generation should enter the promised land, except Joshua and Cáleb. Forty years of wandering in the Desert were to expiate the national crime, after which a new generation was to inherit the promise made to Abraham.

In their wanderings, the miraculous pillar, which had guided them from Egypt, continued still to direct them, and the manna to nourish them; their raiment and their shoes suffered no decay, and their feet were unhurt, by their long and frequent marches. Notwithstanding these signal proofs of the Divine protection, the children of Israel frequently rebelled against Moses, and provoked severe chastisements from their offended God.

Thirty-eight years after their departure from Egypt, the march to Cánaan was resumed; but being defeated in their first attempt, and, though more successful on a second trial, finding the western frontiers of Palestine difficult, the Israelites resolved to make a circuit, and attack the country more to the eastward. On this march, Moses and Aaron, having evinced a want of confidence in the divine power, were included in the sentence of not being permitted to enter the promised land.

Commanded by God to regard the descendants of Esau as their brethren, the Hebrew army avoided the land of Edom, turning their course northward, encountering various enemies, who tried to impede their passage. They gained signal victories over Síhon, king of the Amorites, and Og, the gigantic ruler of Básan, and spread the terror of their name through the surrounding nations. In a pitched battle, which the Israelites fought also against five kings of Mid'ian, the confederate monarchs fell; a terrible slaughter was made of their subjects, the cities of the land were taken and sacked, and a considerable booty brought to Moses and Eleázar, the latter of whom had succeeded Aaron in the priesthood.

Immediately after the punishment of the Midianites, Moses, by the

divine direction, took a census of the people, and assigned to the tribes by lot their future inheritance in Cánaan. He found that all the old murmuring generation, save Joshua and Caleb, had disappeared, as God had foretold. Being warned that his own end was approaching, he solemnly constituted Joshua his successor, and assembling the people, recapitulated all the miracles which God had wrought in their favor since their departure from Egypt, and exhorted them to be firm in their allegiance to Jehovah, setting before them the blessings promised for obedience, and the curses denounced against idolatry. Having thus completed his task, he ascended Mount Nébo, by God's command, whence he was gratified with a view of the promised land; after which he breathed his last, in the one hundredth and twentieth year of his age (B. c. 1451). The place of his burial was carefully concealed, probably to prevent the Israelites from making his tomb an object of idolatrous veneration.

SECTION III.-The Conquest of Canaan by Joshua.

NOTHING less than the strongest assurance of divine aid could have supported Joshua's courage in so arduous an enterprise. He was now ninety-three years of age, and wanted neither experience nor sagacity to foresee the perils which he had to encounter. Though at the head of six hundred thousand fighting men, his army was encumbered by a multitude of old men, women, and children, beside servants and cattle; before him was a large river, which he was to cross, equally exposed to the arms of those he went to attack, and those he left behind. The natíons he had to subdue were warlike, remarkable for their personal strength and gigantic stature; their towns were well fortified by nature and art; their forces and interests cemented by mutual treaties; they had long been aware of the meditated invasion, and had made formidable preparations for the defence of their country.

The tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, preferred settling in the land east of the Jordan, but they sent a contingent of forty thousand men to aid their brethren in the subjugation of Cá

naan.

Passing over the river Jordan by a miraculous passage, the Israelites celebrated the feast of the passover, which had been intermitted since their encampment on Sin'ai, from the want of corn to prepare unleavened bread; now, also, that they were in a productive land, the miraculous supply of manna ceased, being no longer necessary. So great was the alarm of the Canaanites, that no attempt was made to interrupt the Israelites while celebrating this solemn feast; when it was concluded, they advanced against the fortified city of Jer'icho, which was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel,-" none went out, and none came in. By divine command, Joshua made no military preparations for the siege of this important place, but led the army round the city once a day for six days, preserving strict silence, broken only by the sound of the sacred trumpets which accompanied the Ark of the Covenant. On the seventh day, the people "compassed the city, after the same manner, seven times; and it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said un

to the people, Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city. . . . And the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city."

The king of A'i next became the victim of a stratagem devised by Joshua, and its citizens were utterly exterminated. Great fear spread over the land of Cánaan in consequence of the destruction of Jer'ícho and A'i; the Gibeonites, anxious to escape from impending ruin, sought a treaty of peace from Joshua, and obtained it by pretending to be natives of a distant country.

Adonized'ec, king of Jerusalem, was greatly enraged when he heard that the Gibeonites had deserted the common cause; he sent ambassies to four of the neighboring princes to aid him in punishing their defection; they readily assented, and "went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it." Joshua immediately marched to their deliverance. The five kings were completely routed; at Joshua's command "the sun stood still and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. . And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel." During the space of seven years, the Israelites were almost incessantly engaged in completing the conquest of Canaan, but they met with no very formidable resistance after the memorable battle against the five kings before Gibeon. They did not however wholly exterminate the idolatrous tribes, as the Lord had commanded; they became weary of the protracted warfare, and the warriors of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, were naturally anxious to return to their families beyond Jordan. This impolitic act of disobedience was subsequently productive of fatal consequences, for the surviving Canaanites eagerly sought and embraced every opportunity of taking revenge for the extermination of their brethren. Even in peace they were scarcely less dangerous to the prosperity of the chosen people than in war, for they frequently seduced the Israelites to join in the impure and impious rites of their licentious idolatry.

Soon after tranquillity had been established in Palestine, and the different tribes and families had taken possession of their allotted portions, Joshua died, at the advanced age of one hundred and ten, having ruled the country as wisely as he had conquered it bravely: "And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord that he had done for Israel."

SECTION IV.-History of Israel under the Judges.

UNDER the theocracy, as established by Moses, the civil government of Israel was to be administered by Shophetim, or Judges, nominated by the divine oracle, the mysterious Urim and Thummim, which were in the custody of the high-priest; but after the death of Joshua the Israelites frequently apostatized to idolatry, the oracles of God were neglected, the appointment of chief magistrates omitted. The tribe of Judah at first actively engaged in completing the conquest which had

been left imperfect, but others entered into compact with the Canaanites, and were so insnared by the beauty of their women as to contract affinities with them. These intermarriages soon reconciled them to the worship of the false gods of the heathen, and provoked the Almighty to deliver them over to the hands of their enemies. God permitted the idolatrous Israelites to be subdued by the king of Mesopotámia, who held them in subjection for nearly eight years; but on their repentance, Oth'niel was raised up to be their deliverer, and under his administration "they had rest forty years." A second defection was punished by a servitude to the Moabites for eighteen years, at the end of which time E'hud slew the king of Moab, delivered Israel, and restored peace. Sham'gar, the third judge, repelled the incursions of the Philistines, and slew six hundred of them with an ox-goad. But "the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, when E'hud was dead. And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jábin, king of Cánaan." For twenty years the Israelites groaned under the yoke of this despot, but they were at length delivered by the prophetess Deb'orah, aided by Bárak, a leader of established reputation.

A new apostacy was punished by a more severe servitude; "the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strongholds." The liberator chosen to deliver the Israelites from this miserable bondage was Gid'eon, who, with only three hundred men, made a night attack on the camp of the Midianites. Thrown into confusion by the unexpected assault, and deceived as to the number of their enemies, the Midianites turned their arms against each other, and finally fled in disorder. They were vigorously pursued, great numbers were slain, an immense quantity of valuable spoils taken, and the freedom of Israel restored.

Under Gideon's administration, "the land had rest for forty years ;" but after his death the people of Shéchem, at the instigation of Abim'elech, a natural son of Gid'eon, slew all the legitimate children of Gideon except the youngest, and proclaimed Abim'elech king. This dreadful crime produced a civil war, and the fratricide was himself afterward killed by a woman.

There was nothing remarkable in the administration of the judges Tóla and Jáir; but after the death of the latter, the idolatry of the Israelites became so gross, that God delivered them, into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites. In their distress, the children of Israel, probably by divine direction, applied to Jeph'thah, the natural son of Gil'ead, who, having been refused a share of his father's inheritance, had become the chief of a predatory band beyond Jordan.

Jeph'thah was succeeded by Ib'zan, Elon, and Ab'don, of whom nothing remarkable is recorded. They were followed by Eli, who united in his person the office of high-priest and judge. Under his administration, the apostacy of the Israelites was punished by their being delivered over to the Philistines, who harassed them for nearly forty years. These oppressors deprived the Israelites of all their weapons of war, and of the means of procuring others.

During this period appeared Sam'son, the most extraordinary of the

Jewish heroes, whose birth and prowess were miraculously foretold to both his parents. During his life he harassed the Philistines, slaughtering them with wonderful displays of strength; and by his last act, in pulling upon himself and upon his enemies the temple of their national god, in which a general assembly of the people were gathered, the dead which "he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life."

The Israelites were too disorganized to take advantage of this extraordinary slaughter of the Philistine lords; E'li, their judge, was nearly one hundred years old, and his two sons, Hoph'ni and Phin'ehas, who acted under him, took advantage of his weakness to commit the most profligate abominations. Samuel, whom God had called in his youth to become a prophet and the future judge of Israel, was commanded by the Lord to denounce divine vengeance against E'li; after which he became generally known as an inspired person, divinely chosen to be E'li's successor.

Samuel, though still a youth, was chosen judge of Israel after the death of E'li. He assembled the people, and impressed upon them the criminality and folly of their idolatry; they were convinced by his reasoning, and put away their strange deities, promising to serve the Lord alone. They were rewarded by a signal victory over the Philistines; after which the land had rest during the remainder of Samuel's administration.

When Samuel had judged Israel twenty years, he appointed his two sons to assist him; but these young men, like the sons of E'li, perverted justice, and the elders of Israel unanimously demanded a king to rule over them like other nations. Samuel remonstrated with them for thus abandoning their peculiar distinction of having the Lord for their king; but when the demand was renewed more urgently, on a threatened invasion of the Ammonites, he was directed by the Lord to comply with the popular request. According to the divine instructions he selected Saul, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, to be the first monarch of the Israelites (B. c. 1095). He was presented to the tribes at Miz'peh, "and Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted and said, God save the king!"

SECTION V.-History of the United Kingdom of Israel.

MANY of the Israelites were discontented with the choice that had been made of a monarch. But these symptoms of discontent were soon checked by the signal proof which Saul gave of his military qualifications. Náhash, king of the Ammonites, invaded Israel, and laid siege to Jábesh-Gil'ead; the inhabitants proposed to capitulate, but Náhash sternly replied, "On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it as a reproach upon Israel." When this intelligence reached the general assembly of the Israelites, they burst into loud lamentations; but Saul commanded an instant levy of the people. A numerous body of soldiers obeyed the summons; Saul marched against the Ammonites, and defeated them so effectually, that not two of them were left together.