II.-MIZPEH.

If Neby-Samwil be the high place of Gibeon, then Mizpeh, which Dr. Robinson planted there, must be sought elsewhere. One spot immediately suggests itself. Mizpeh-always with the article, "the Mizpeh"-is in Hebrew, what Scopus is in Greek, "the watchtower." Wherever Scopus was, and we know that it was some eminence on the north of the city, whence the city and temple were visible-there it is most natural to place Mizpeh. Such a position will meet every requirement of the notices of Mizpeh-the assemblies held there by Samuel'; the fortification of it by Asa with the stones removed from the Mount' of Benjamin 2; the seat of the Chaldæan governor after the capture of Jerusalem; the wailingplace of the Maccabees'.

11 Sam. vii. 5, 6.

* Ramah. 1 Kings xv. 22; Jer. xli. 9.

3 Neh. iii. 7; Jer. xl. 6.

41 Macc. iii. 46.

CHAPTER V.

EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH.

Deuteronomy xxxiii. 13-17. "And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth, and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush; let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of 'buffaloes' with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh."

Mountains of Ephraim-Fertile valleys and central situation-Supremacy of Ephraim. I. Shiloh. II. Shechem.-1. First halting-place of Abraham. 2. First settlement of Jacob. 3. First capital of the conquest -Sanctuary of Gerizim. 4. Reign of Abimelech. 5. Sect of Samaritans. 6. Jacob's Well. III. Samaria.-Its beauty-Its strengthSebaste. IV. Passes of Manasseh-Dothan.

Note on Mount Gerizim.

SKETCH-MAP OF THE SITUATION OF SHECHEM (NABLUS).

"Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest."

EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH.

THE narrow territory of Benjamin soon melts into the hills which reach to the plain of Esdraelon; and which, from the great tribe which there had its chief seat, are known by the name of "the mountains of Ephraim."

The moun

tains of

Ephraim.

Their character is marked by two peculiarities. First, they are the central mass of the hills of Palestine, nearly equidistant from the northern and southern boundary of the whole country; and, secondly, the closely set structure, and the rocky soil of the hills of Judah and Benjamin, though still continued to a great extent, are here for the first time occasionally broken up into wide plains in the heart of the mountains, and diversified both in hill and valley by streams of running water and by continuous tracts of verdure and vegetation. It was this central tract and this "good land" that was naturally allotted to the powerful house of Joseph in the first division of the country. We are so familiar with the supremacy of the tribe of Judah, that we are apt to forget that it was of comparatively recent date. For more than four hundred years

a period equal in length to that which elapsed between the Norman Conquest and the Wars of the Roses-Ephraim, with its two dependent tribes of Manasseh and Benjamin, exercised undisputed pre-eminence. Joshua the first conqueror; Gideon, the greatest of the judges, whose brothers were "as the children of kings," and whose children all but established hereditary monarchy in their own line; Saul, the first kingbelong to one or other of these three tribes.

It was not till the close of the first period of Jewish history

that God "refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: but chose the tribe of Judah, even the Mount Zion which He 'loved." That haughty spirit which could brook no equal or superior, which chafed against the rise even of the kindred tribe of Manasseh in the persons of Gideon and Jephthah, and yet more against the growing dominion of Judah in David and Solomon, till it threw off the yoke altogether, and established an independent kingdom-would naturally claim, and could not rightly be refused, the choicest portion of the land. As "Judah " under Caleb was to "abide in their coasts on the south," so "the house of Joseph" under Joshua was to "abide in their coasts on the north"." Not till these were fixed, could the other tribes be thought of. "For the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth their ferti- by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by lity; the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth, and the fulness thereof... let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren"." If Judah was the wild lion that guarded the south, and couched in the fastness of Zion, so Ephraim was to be the more peaceful, but not less powerful buffalo, who was to rove the rich vales of central Palestine, and defend the frontier of the north; "his glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of buffaloes': with them shall he push the people together to the ends of the earth, and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh'." In the fulness of their pride and strength, they demanded of their great chieftain Joshua, "Why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great people, forasmuch as the Lord has blessed me hitherto ?' -the mountain' is not enough for us." But Joshua answered them with no less wisdom than patriotism, that what more they won must be by their own exertions against the Canaanites of

1 Ps. lxxviii. 67, 68.

2 Josh. xviii. 5.

Deut. xxxiii. 13 -16.

4 Deut. xxxiii. 17.

5 i. e. by increase of children. Compare Gen. i. 22, 28.