valour could the note of praise rise so high, as in the spotless fame of Joshua, contained in these few words :-" He wholly followed the LORD." If proof was wanting of the authenticity of the Scriptures, or of their infinite value above all human composition, the concise and comprehensive manner in which the greatest achievements and most solemn events are narrated, is more than sufficient to stamp their origin divine. In three short sentences we have a concise account of the funerals of three highly distinguished, great, and truly good men-Joshua, Joseph, and Eleazar.-Joshua xxiv. 30-33. Thus the book of Joshua, which began with triumphant victories, ends with funerals, with which all the glory of man is stained.

EXERCISES.

What may we see in the book of Joshua, if we read it with care and attention? What command did Joshua receive from the Lord after the death of Moses? Give some outline of the boundaries of the land which the Lord gave unto Israel. How did Rahab act with the spies? How was Jericho taken? And Ai? How did Joshua punish the Gibeonites for their falsehood? How did the Lord help Israel in the day of battle? How many kings did they subdue? What choice did Joshua make for himself and his household? How old was he when he died? Where was he buried? When and where were the bones of Joseph buried? Give an outline of Joshua's character.

CHAPTER IX.

FROM THE DEATH OF JOSHUA TO THE DEATH OF SAMSON, A.M. 2588-2887.

Rule of the Judges-Othniel-Ehud-Barak-Gideon-Abimelech

Tola-Jair-Jephthah-Ibzan-Elon-Abdon, and Samson.

We have now before us the history of the Commonwealth of Israel during the government of the Judges, from Othniel to Eli; which, according to Dr Lightfoot's computation, "occupied the space of two hundred and ninety-nine years, reckoning to Othniel of Judah, forty years; to Ehud of Benjamin, eighty; to Barak of Naphtali, forty; to Gideon of Manasseh, forty; to Abimelech his son, three; to Tola of Issachar, twenty-three; to Jair of Manasseh, twenty-two; to Jephthah of Manasseh, six; to Ibzan of Judah, seven; to Elon of Zebulon, ten; to Abdon of Ephraim, eight; to Samson of Dan, twenty-in all, two hun

dred ninety and nine. As for the years of their servitude, as where it is said Eglon oppressed them eighteen years, and Jabin twenty, those must be reckoned to fall in with some or other of the judges." The high-priest seems to have been appointed by God, and Moses to be the chief counsellor in declaring the laws and statutes of God, the other priests being also counsellors; but the executive power of the government was rather vested in those who were called Judges, whether they were ordinary or extraordinary.-Deut. xvii. 9-12.

We find after the death of Joshua, that the tribes of Judah and Simeon went to war against the Canaanites that still remained unsubdued, and slew of them ten thousand men in Bezek, took Adoni-bezek captive, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. After this the children of Judah went and fought against the Canaanites that dwelt at Kirjath-sepher. "And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. And OTHNIEL the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim. Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years. And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim into his hand. And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died."

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD. So they served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. But when they cried unto the LORD, He raised them up a deliverer in EHUD the son of Gera, a Benjamite, who brought a present to Eglon, king of Moab, and stabbed him secretly with a dagger while he sat in his summer parlour.-Judges iii. 16-21. "And Israel slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men of valour. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years."

SHAMGAR, the son of Anath, who slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad: he also delivered Israel.”Judges iii. 31. After Shamgar,

DEBORAH, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, delivered Israel from the tyranny of Jabin, king of Canaan, who had nine hundred chariots of iron. Deborah having sent for Barak out of Kadesh-naphtali, gave him the command of ten thousand of the

children of Naphtali and Zebulun, with whom she went herself to battle, and routed the army of Jabin under the command of his general Sisera, who fled from the battlefield: and having gone into the tent of Jael, being "weary and worn," he fell fast asleep. Then Jael took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail of the tent into his temples and fastened it to the ground, so he died. So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. Then sang Deborah and Barak a song of triumph, which begins with praise and ends with prayer:-" Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. Hear, O ye kings: give ear, O ye princes: I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.

Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years."

After Deborah and Barak came GIDEON, the son of Joash. "And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, when he thrashed wheat by the wine-press, to hide it from the Midianites, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? And he said unto him, Oh, my LORD, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man." After this, Gideon asked and received sufficient evidence that this commission was from God himself, for the angel talked with him, and when he had brought some flesh and cakes to entertain him, the angel bid him lay them upon a rock, and pour out the broth upon them; then, with the end of the staff that was in his hand, he touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed them. He then began his work—

first threw down the altar of Baal, the idol, by night, and cut down the idolatrous grove, and then offered a sacrifice to the LORD, according to the order he had received from God.Judges vi. 25-28.

After this God gave Gideon further tokens of his success. At his request, God made a fleece of wool wet with dew, when the ground all round it was dry; and, at his second petition, He made a fleece of wool dry, and upon all the ground there was dew.-Judges vi. 36-40.

Afterwards God directed Gideon how to prove and model his army, selecting out of thirty-two thousand only three hundred men, each of whom, by Gideon's order, took a trumpet, and a pitcher with a lamp in it, and coming on the camp of the Midianites at midnight, they broke their pitchers, and frightened them with the sudden blaze of lamps, the sound of the trumpets, and the loud shoutings of "The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!" Gideon followed up this victory by others until that Midian was subdued by Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. The country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon; and he died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash, his father. After the death of Gideon the apostacy of Israel was punished, not as the former apostacies, by foreign invasion, or the oppressions of any neighbouring power, but by intestine broils among themselves. None of Gideon's threescore and ten sons set themselves up for judges; but Abimelech, the son of his concubine, made himself king, after that he had slain threescore and nine of his brothers -the youngest being saved by hiding himself.-Judges ix. 5, 6. He was slain when laying siege to a city, by a woman casting a piece of millstone upon his head.

After Abimelech there arose to defend Israel TOLA, a man of Issachar; and he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir. And after Tola arose JAIR, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years, and died, and was buried in Camon.-Note. While those two judges, TOLA and JAIR, presided in the affairs of Israel, things went well; but afterwards Israel returned to their idolatry— they forsook the LORD, and served Him not at all; then God renewed His judgments upon them, and brought them under the power of their enemies. In Judges x. 15, we have their confession, and their earnest prayer:-" And the children of Israel said unto the LORD, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day." We have God's gracious answer, or His return to them in mercy, expressed very tenderly in verse 16th:—“ And

they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel." He then gave them another judge and deliverer in

JEPHTHAH, a mighty man of valour, who delivered Israel from the power of the Ammonites. The most remarkable thing concerning this judge is, that he made a rash vow to sacrifice to God the first thing that came to meet him after his victory, and that happened to be his daughter, and only child. -Note. Jephthah did ill to make so rash a vow, and worse if he performed it. He could not be bound by his vow to that which God hath forbidden. "Thou shalt not kill." Jephthah judged Israel six years, then died, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

The next three judges who succeeded Jephthah, were

IBZAN of Bethlehem; ELON, a Zebulonite, and ABDON, a Pirathonite. The first of these judged Israel seven years, the second ten, and the third eight years.

We are now arrived at one of the notable judges of IsraelSAMSON and as he is held as a type of the Messiah, Israel's great Deliverer, we must notice in what respects he was so. And, first, his conception, like that of the Saviour, was announced to his mother by an angel :-" And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not; but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." Then the woman went and told her husband what the angel had said unto her. "Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, O my LORD, let the man of God whom thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah: and the angel appeared again to him and his wife. And Manoah said unto the angel, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? and he said, I am. And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him? And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware: all that I commanded her let her observe. And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him." -Note. God hearkened to the voice of Manoah. God will not fail to guide those by His counsel that are sincerely desirous to know their duty-by prayer.-Judges xiii. 12, &c.