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Title: A Class-Book of Old Testament History

Author: George Frederick Maclear

Release Date: October 22, 2020 [EBook #63528]

Language: English

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NOTICE.

The present Volume forms a Class-Book of Old Testament History from the Earliest Times to those of Ezra and Nehemiah.

In its preparation the most recent Authorities1 have been consulted, and wherever it has appeared useful, Notes have been subjoined illustrative of the Text, and, for the sake of more advanced students, references added to larger Works.

The Index has been so arranged as to form a concise Dictionary of the Persons and Places mentioned in the course of the Narrative, while the Maps, which have been prepared with considerable care at Stanford’s Geographical Establishment, will, it is hoped, materially add to the value and usefulness of the Book.

London, Christmas, 1864.

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SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.

BOOK I. From the Creation to the Dispersion of Mankind.
Chap.	I.	The Creation
Chap.	II.	The Fall
Chap.	III.	The Flood
Chap.	IV.	The Confusion of Tongues
Chap.	V.	Rise of Idolatry. The Patriarch Job.
BOOK II. The Patriarchal Age.
Chap.	I.	The Call of Abraham
Chap.	II.	Life of Abraham continued
Chap.	III.	The History of Isaac
Chap.	IV.	Life of Jacob
Chap.	V.	History of Joseph
Chap.	VI.	Jacob’s Descent into Egypt, and Death of Joseph
Note.		Survey of the Patriarchal Age
BOOK III. From the Settlement of the Israelites in Egypt to the Giving of the Law.
Chap.	I.	The Birth and Call of Moses
Chap.	II.	Signs and Wonders in Egypt
Chap.	III.	The Last Plague—The Passover—The Exodus
Chap.	IV.	The Journey from the Red Sea to Rephidim
Chap.	V.	Sinai and the Giving of the Law
Chap.	VI.	Moses in the Mount. The Construction of the Golden Calf
BOOK IV. The Mosaic Worship and Polity.
Chap.	I.	The Tabernacle
Note.		History of the Tabernacle
Chap.	II.	The Priests
Chap.	III.	The Sacrifices and Offerings
Chap.	IV.	Holy Times and Seasons
Chap.	V.	The Great Festivals—The Jewish Calendar
Note.		Laws of Purity, &c.
Chap.	VI.	Civil and Moral Laws
BOOK V. From the Departure from Sinai to the Death of Moses.
Chap.	I.	Kadesh-Barnea and the Mission of the Spies
Chap.	II.	The Wanderings—Death of Miriam and Aaron
Chap.	III.	Conquest of the East of Jordan—Balaam and Balak
Chap.	IV.	War with the Midianites—Death of Moses
Note.		His Work and Character
BOOK VI. Joshua and the Conquest of Western Palestine.
Chap.	I.	The Passage of the Jordan, and Fall of Jericho
Chap.	II.	Conquest of the Southern and Central Mountains
Chap.	III.	Battle of Merom, and Division of the Land
BOOK VII. Period of the Judges.
Chap.	I.	Events subsequent to the Death of Joshua
Chap.	II.	Micah and the Danites—The Tribal War
Chap.	III.	Othniel and Ehud, Deborah and Barak
Chap.	IV.	Invasion of the Midianites—Gideon
Chap.	V.	Abimelech and Jephthah
Chap.	VI.	Invasion from the South-west, Samson
BOOK VIII. From the Time of Samuel to the Accession of David.
Chap.	I.	Eli and Samuel
Chap.	II.	Samuel’s Judgeship
Chap.	III.	Election of the First King
Chap.	IV.	The Battle of Michmash
Chap.	V.	Saul and the Amalekites—David and Goliath
Chap.	VI.	David’s Life as an Outlaw
Chap.	VII.	David at Ziklag—Battle of Mount Gilboa
BOOK IX. The Reigns of David and Solomon.
Chap.	I.	David’s Reign at Hebron
Chap.	II.	David’s Reign at Jerusalem
Chap.	III.	David’s Army, his Conquests, his Sin
Chap.	IV.	The Rebellion of Absalom
Chap.	V.	Close of David’s reign
Footnote.		David’s Work and Character
Chap.	VI.	Accession of Solomon
Chap.	VII.	The Building of the Temple
Chap.	VIII.	Solomon’s reign continued
BOOK X. Kingdoms of Judah and Israel.
PART I. Period of Mutual Hostility.
Chap.	I.	The Revolt of the Ten Tribes
Chap.	II.	Rehoboam and Abijah, Jeroboam and Nadab
Chap.	III.	Asa and Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri
PART II. Period of Mutual Alliance, and Hostility to Syria.
Chap.	I.	Accession of Ahab—Era of Elijah
Chap.	II.	Wars of Ahab and Benhadad
Chap.	III.	Murder of Naboth—Battle of Ramoth Gilead
Chap.	IV.	Wars of Jehoshaphat. Translation of Elijah
Chap.	V.	Jehoshaphat and Jehoram—Era of Elisha
Chap.	VI.	Elisha and Naaman—Siege of Samaria
PART III. Renewal of Hostilities; Decline of both Kingdoms before the power of the Assyrian Empire.
Chap.	I.	Accession of Jehu
Chap.	II.	Athaliah and Joash; Death of Elisha
Chap.	III.	Amaziah and Jeroboam II.; Era of Jonah
Chap.	IV.	Decline and Captivity of the Kingdom of Israel
Chap.	V.	Reign of Hezekiah
Chap.	VI.	Reign of Manasseh—Reforms of Josiah
Chap.	VII.	Death of Josiah—Captivity of Judah
Note.		Duration, Relation, Contrasts of the Two Kingdoms
BOOK XI. From the Captivity to the Close of the Canon.
Chap.	I.	Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar
Chap.	II.	Reigns of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius
Chap.	III.	Rebuilding of the Temple—Esther and Ahasuerus
Chap.	IV.	Times of Ezra and Nehemiah—Close of Canon
Appendix and Chronological Tables
Index
MAPS.
1.	The Dispersion of Noah’s Descendants (Genesis x.)
2.	A Map of Canaan, Egypt, and Sinai, to illustrate the Patriarchal History and the Exodus. With Mount Sinai enlarged
3.	The Holy Land divided among the Twelve Tribes
4.	Solomon’s Dominions, The Kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and the Lands of the Captivities

CHAPTER I.

THE CREATION.
Gen. i. ii.   B.C. 4004.

IN the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. With these simple but sublime words commences the History contained in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, teaching us that the Universe did not exist from all eternity, but owed its origin to the creative act of God. To us this truth appears so elementary and self-evident that we can hardly appreciate the dim and uncertain notions on this point, which the best and wisest of the heathen possessed. Certain it is, however, they were very much in the dark respecting the origin of the world. Some philosophers held that it existed from all eternity: others taught that there are two independent Causes, the one Light, and the other Darkness, and that out of the unending struggle between them the Universe had its origin; others imagined that all the marvellous order and harmony we see around us was the result of Chance; others, again, conceived that the world was an emanation from Deity, and a part of Deity. Distinct from all these guesses and conceptions is the declaration of the Scripture Narrative. It affirms that the world is not eternal; that it had its origin with time and in time; that it owed its beginning neither to Chance, nor Necessity, but the Creative will of a Personal God, infinitely exalted above it, the Maker and Sustainer of all things. (Comp. Joh. i. 1–3, Rom. xi. 36, 1 Cor. viii. 6, Col. i. 15, 16, Heb. i. 2, 3).

The creation, however, of the present order of things was not instantaneous, but progressive, and took place in six Days, or vast Periods of time. On the first day light was created, and divided from the darkness; on the second, the firmament, or atmosphere encircling the globe; on the third, a separation was made between the water and the land, and the surface of the earth was covered with vegetation, with the herb yielding seed, and the tree yielding fruit after its kind. On the fourth, the sun, moon and stars were bidden to give light upon the earth, and to be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years. On the fifth, animal life appeared in its lowest forms, the waters brought forth the various marine tribes after their kind, and this was succeeded by the creation of every winged fowl. The sixth day was marked by the production of land animals, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, which, like all the preceding products of Creative Power, received the Divine approval, and were pronounced to be very good.

But the work of Creation was not yet complete. A being higher than any yet created was to be called into existence. Accordingly God said, Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over every living thing, and over all the earth; and the Lord God formed Man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Man became a living soul. Then having seen that all things He had made were very good God ended His work, and rested on the seventh day, sanctifying it as a day of Rest for man. (Gen. i. 2–26).

The language here employed in reference to the creation of man deserves attention. It teaches us that man did not, as some have taught, slowly emerge by his own efforts from a brutish state. Unlike other created objects, he was originally made in the image and after the likeness of God. Endowed not only with a body, but also with an immortal soul, he was to combine intellectual power with liberty of will, and the faculty of conscience. And as he was great himself, so also was the work to which he was called. His was to be universal dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. As God’s vicegerent, he was to exercise lordship over nature, and guide it towards its destined perfection (Gen. i. 26).

But though the first man Adam, was endued with those high prerogatives, he was not destined to attain immediately to the end for which he was created. His activity was to commence in a particular spot, and thence to extend in all directions, until all the earth was subdued and moulded to the will of its Creator. The Almighty, therefore, planted a garden in a region of the East, corresponding probably to the high table-land of the modern Armenia, and watered by four streams. Of two of these, Pison and Gihon, the situation is absolutely unknown, the others were the Tigris and Euphrates. Here, then, in a spot endued with everything pleasant to the sight and good for food, man’s work was to commence. Action and not contemplation only was essential to his nature, hence a charge was given to him to dress and keep the garden. Nor amidst everything to gratify his senses and supply material for his understanding and reflection was he left alone. A responsible being, bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, was created a help-meet for him. The Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and taking one of his ribs, He made thereof a woman, and brought her unto him, and Eve, the mother of all flesh, one with himself in nature and in origin, was united to him in holy bonds, which He, Who thus instituted them in Paradise, afterwards adorned and hallowed with His own presence and first miracle at Cana of Galilee (Joh. ii. 1; Eph. v. 23–33).

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CHAPTER III.

THE FLOOD.
Gen. iv.–ix.   B.C. 4004–2348.

THOUGH thus assured of ultimate restoration, the first man, as a fallen being, could not be permitted to remain in the region, which had been the scene of his trial and his failure. He might take of the fruit of another Tree, that grew in the midst of the Garden, the Tree of Life, and eat, and live for ever, and thus prevent the possibility of his recovery. Accordingly he was sent forth from the Garden, at the east of which were stationed Cherubim, a particular order, in all probability, of Angels (Comp. Ex. xxv. 17–22; Ezek. i. 5, Rev. iv. 6), while a flaming Sword which turned every way guarded the approach to the Tree of Life.

Thus driven forth from Eden, and re-commencing under new and altered circumstances their course of probation, Adam and Eve in due time became the parents of two sons, Cain (gotten, or acquired), and Abel (breath, transitoriness). From their earliest years the most opposite tendencies distinguished the brothers. The mysterious rite of sacrifice, which meets us at the very threshold of Sacred History, and which, it is supposed, not without probability, the Almighty Himself instituted, when He made for the first pair coats of skins, and clothed them (Gen. iii. 21), became the occasion of a fatal quarrel between them. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, Abel of the firstlings of his flock, an offering unto the Lord. The offering of Abel was accepted, that of Cain rejected. The reason for this distinction cannot be pronounced with absolute certainty. Either the offering of Abel was a free and bounteous presentation of the best that he had, while that of Cain was merely commonplace and perfunctory, or Abel brought his offering in a spirit of faith, and trustful acquiescence in a divinely-instituted though mysterious command (Heb. xi. 4), a motive which the offering of his elder brother lacked. Whatever was the precise reason of the distinction, it roused all Cain’s latent jealousy, and he became his brother’s murderer (1 Joh. iii. 12). For thus shedding righteous blood (Matt. xxiii. 35) he was condemned by the Almighty to perpetual banishment from the region of Eden. Fearful of vengeance from the other children of Adam, whose family we may infer from the mention of Cain’s wife had largely increased, he feared to depart before he received from the Almighty a special sign or pledge of security in the land of his banishment7. This having been granted, he removed into the region of Nod (exile), and there became the ancestor of numerous descendants, the heads of whom are enumerated to the sixth generation, under the names of Enoch, Irad, Mehu-jael, Methu-sael, and Lamech. In this region, too, he built the earliest city of which we have any record, and called it Enoch, after the name of his eldest son. The Cainite families were distinguished for their attention to the development of the arts and pleasures of life. As Cain built the first city, so Lamech instituted polygamy, while of his three sons Jabal introduced the nomadic life, Jubal the use of musical instruments, and Tubal-Cain the art of working in metals (Gen. iv. 16–24).

Meanwhile with another son Seth (substituted), who had been given to Adam in place of Abel, commenced a line distinct in its social and religious tendencies from that of Cain. The heads of this family are enumerated to the tenth generation under the names of Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah. While the descendants of Cain advanced indeed in civilization, but were addicted to luxury and violence, the descendants of Seth were distinguished for pastoral simplicity. They called upon the name of the Lord (Gen. iv. 26); they were the chosen repositories of the Promise of Redemption, and the witnesses for a God of Righteousness in the midst of a generation which already began to become corrupt, and in the seen to forget the unseen. An eminent type of the characteristic virtues of this line was Enoch, the son of Jared, the seventh from Adam (Jude 14). All his life long he walked in closest communion with the Most High and the spiritual world. Faith (Heb. xi. 5), implicit trust in a Righteous Ruler of the Universe, was the principle of his life, and the secret spring of his holiness. One day he vanished from the society of his fellowmen. He was not, for the God whom he served took him to Himself, and translated him to the unseen world, without undergoing the penalty of death (Gen. v. 21–24).

A peculiar feature of this period was the great length to which human life was prolonged. Adam attained to the age of 930 years, Methuselah to that of 969, the others nearly as long. From this accrued many advantages to the race. It tended to promote its speedy increase, it preserved uninterrupted such knowledge as men were able to acquire, and pre-eminently the original revelation respecting the one true God, the remembrance of Paradise, and the hope of ultimate Redemption. But the great longevity of the men of this period did not tend to hinder their increasing alienation from the paths of righteousness, and obedience to the Supreme. Amidst the extreme brevity of the sacred narrative it is clear that the wickedness of men reached a desperate pitch, the earth was filled with violence, and all men corrupted their way upon it. At length this alienation from God reached its culminating point in a catastrophe, to which the Sacred Record attaches a peculiar and mysterious importance. When men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all that they chose. Whatever be the true meaning of the expression sons of God, whether it refers to the Angels, as some have thought, or the descendants of Seth, certain it is that a superhuman spirit of wickedness broke out at this period. From these mixed marriages sprang men remarkable for strength and power, for violence and arrogant wickedness, through whom both races speedily became hopelessly corrupt. The salt even in the line of Seth lost its savour, and the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen. vi. 1–5).

In this awful crisis one man only found favour with God, Noah, the son of Lamech, in whom at his birth, with prophetic glance his father beheld a pledge of that rest and comfort, which the men of faith felt they so sorely needed from the burden of weary and irksome labour on the ground which Jehovah had cursed (Gen. v. 29). When Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Like Enoch he was a righteous and perfect man in his generation, and in this age of universal apostasy maintained an unflinching trust in the Righteous Ruler of the Universe, and at length, when the cup of man’s iniquity was full, he received intimation from the Almighty of His intention to bring an awful judgment upon the world. Behold I, even I, said God, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die. From the general catastrophe Noah and his family alone were to be preserved, and he was directed to construct an Ark, a huge vessel of enormous dimensions, into which, when completed, he was to repair with his wife, his three sons and their wives, and also two of every species of beasts and birds accounted “unclean” or unfit for sacrifice, and seven of every species accounted “clean.” The vessel thus ordered was to be constructed of gopher-wood, probably cypress, and was to be overlaid within and without with pitch or bitumen; in length it was to be 300 cubits, in breadth 50, in depth 30. But though the impending Judgment was thus announced, and a visible pledge of it directed to be constructed, the Doom itself was not to be as yet. He who afterwards waited 400 years till the cup of the iniquity of the Amorites was full, who gave the Ninevites forty days for repentance, now waited (1 Pet. iii. 20), with much long-suffering, for a space of 120 years.

During this period according to all that God commanded Noah, so did he. Though the things, of which he was warned, were not yet seen (Heb. xi. 7), nay, must have seemed to the men of his generation in the extremest degree improbable, moved with fear he yet persevered in his awful task, and by this act of faith, as well as by his own works, continued to warn his fellowmen of what was to come. But his warnings fell on unheeding ears. The men of his generation set at naught all his counsel and mocked at his reproofs: they did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage (Matt. xxiv. 38; Lk. xvii. 26, 27), until the day of Doom arrived. On the seventeenth day of the second month of the 600th year of Noah’s life he and his family entered into the Ark, and the Lord shut them in. Then, after a solemn pause of seven days, the elements of destruction were bidden to do their work. The fountains of the great deep were broken up, the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain descended, till the waters covered the highest hills, and all flesh wherein was the breath of life died, of fowl, of cattle, of wild beast, and of every creeping thing which creepeth upon the earth, and every man.

In these simple but impressive words the Sacred Narrative describes the appalling catastrophe. Written for a far higher purpose, it paints no scenes as a human writer would have done. “We see nothing of the death-struggle; we hear not the cry of despair; we are not called upon to witness the frantic agony of husband and wife, of parent and child, as they fled in terror before the rising waters. Not a word is said of the sadness of the one righteous man who, safe himself, looked upon the destruction, which he could not avert. But one impression is left upon the mind with peculiar vividness, from the very simplicity of the narrative, and it is that of utter desolation8.” All flesh died, Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the ark. For 150 days the waters prevailed, till at length on the 17th day of the 7th month the Ark rested on one of the peaks of Ararat. From this time the waters gradually decreased till the first day of the 10th month, when the tops of the mountains having begun to appear, Noah sent forth a raven, which returned not to the Ark. A week afterwards he sent forth a dove, to see if the waters were abated from the lower and more level country. But the dove finding no rest for the sole of her foot returned unto the Ark. Again he waited seven days, and once more sent her forth, when she returned with a fresh olive-leaf pluckt off in her mouth, a sign that the waters had still further subsided. Yet again, after a similar interval, Noah sent her forth. This time, however, she did not return, having found on the earth a rest for the sole of her foot, and then he knew that the awful Judgment had indeed come to a close, and at the Divine command left the Ark, and set foot on the dry land9 (Gen. viii. 1–19).

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CHAPTER IV.

THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES.
Gen. x.–xi.   B.C. 2347–2233.

THE first act of Noah on leaving the Ark was to build an altar, and offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl. His sacrifice was accepted, and now for the first time a solemn Covenant was ratified between the Almighty and the Patriarch, to which definite promises were annexed, and “an outward and visible sign.” From its baptism of water the Earth had risen once more to be the habitation of man, and Noah and his sons were solemnly assured that all flesh should never again be cut off by the waters of a Flood, but that while the earth remained, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter and day and night should not cease. Again too the blessing of Paradise was bestowed, sovereignty and dominion over the animal creation were assured, and once more men were bidden to be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. At the same time animal food was expressly allowed, while the sanctity of human life was as solemnly enforced, whoso shed man’s blood, by man should his blood be shed. Of this covenant the Rainbow was the visible pledge, assuring man that he might enter afresh on his course of probation, nor dread its interruption by any catastrophe like that with which the earth had been so lately visited (Gen. ix. 8–17).

The elevation of the Armenian plateau, in the neighbourhood of which the Ark had rested, being equidistant between the Black and Caspian Seas on the north, the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea on the south, being also the region in which all the great rivers of Western Asia, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Araxes, and the Halys take their rise, formed a natural and convenient centre whence the descendants of Noah might overspread the whole earth. But on this migration they did not set out, before an unseemly incident revealed the natural character of his sons, prophetic of their future destinies. Noah began to practise agriculture, and planted a vineyard, and through ignorance, as it has been supposed, of its properties, drank of the wine in excess, and lay exposed in his tent. Ham, his youngest son, mocked him while he lay in this condition, but Shem and Japheth, with more filial feeling, averting their eyes covered their father with a garment. Awaking from his slumbers Noah became conscious of what his youngest son had done, and justly angry at the irreverence he had displayed, brake forth into prophetic utterances of blessing and cursing, foreshadowing the diverse destinies of the descendants of his family. Upon Canaan, the fourth son of Ham, and probably a partaker in his father’s transgression, he pronounced the doom of perpetual servitude to his brethren10. Shem he declared to be the chosen one of Jehovah, from whom the promised Salvation should proceed, while Japheth, multiplied and enlarged should dwell in his tents11, and be received as a partaker in his spiritual privileges.

With their future destinies thus foretold, the sons of Noah went forth, and took up their abode for some time on the rich alluvial plain of Shinar between the Tigris and Euphrates. Here their descendants began to form a great fraternal community, which it was the more easy to do, seeing that they all proceeded from the same parental home, and had all one language. But here, in defiance of the Divine command, which bade them disperse themselves abroad and replenish the whole earth, they resolved to make a City and a huge Tower whose top might reach unto heaven, to serve as a central point of union, and a great World-Metropolis. But their design was counteracted. The Almighty interposed, and by confounding their language, so that they could not understand one another’s speech, rent the closest bond of human society. Unable to continue the erection of their City and Tower, which was henceforth called Babel or Confusion, they were scattered abroad over the face of the earth, and thus constrained to fulfil the eternal designs of Him, who has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of the habitations of the sons of men (Acts xvii. 26)12.

Before, however, it leaves them to pursue their own ways, the Sacred Narrative presents to us a Genealogical Table, in which the names of the several nations descended from Noah, and their geographical distribution, have been preserved. With this Table antiquity has handed down nothing that can be compared for accuracy or comprehensiveness. “It exposes the fallacies of the mythical genealogies of pagans, contradicts their fables respecting gods, heroes, and periods of millions of years, and also affords a firm foundation for investigations concerning the origin and the traditions of nations.” From this Table, then, it appears that

(i) The descendants of Japheth (enlargement) after leaving the original cradle of the human race, occupied chiefly the isles of the Gentiles, or the coast-lands of the Mediterranean Sea in Asia Minor and Europe, and thence spread chiefly in a northerly direction over the entire European Continent, and a great portion of Asia. Thus Gomer was the ancestor of the Cymmerians or Cimbri, Magog of the Scythians, Madai of the Medes, Javan of the Ionians and Greek race, Tubal and Mesech of the Tibareni and Moschi, two Colchian tribes, and Tiras of the Thracians.

(ii) The descendants of Ham (“heat”) proceeded in a southerly direction, and occupied the whole of Africa, and the Southern peninsulas of Asia, India, and Arabia. Of his four sons Cush extended his settlements from Babylonia to Ethiopia, Mizraim colonized Egypt, Phut Libya, and Canaan the land called by his name.

(iii) The descendants of Shem established themselves in Central Asia, and thence extended in an easterly and westerly direction, Aram colonising the country afterwards known as Syria, Lud Lydia, Arphaxad Chaldæa, Asshur part of Assyria, Elam Persia, Joktan a portion of the Arabian peninsula (Gen. x. 1–26).

Thus He, who hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth (Acts xvii. 26), directed the repeopling of the world by the descendants of Noah. Like prodigal sons they were to go into far countries, and learn by bitter experience that neither human strength nor human wisdom can work out the righteousness of God, or win back for man his lost inheritance. But the preservation of their names in this Table of Nations is a proof that no one of them was forgotten by a God of Love; that though they might forget Him He yet guided their destinies, and overruled their counsels only to the accomplishment of His gracious purposes of Redemption. The Day of Pentecost in the New Testament corresponds to the Confusion of Tongues in the Old. Then, not till then, did men hear, each in their tongue wherein they were born, the Glad Tidings of One, very God and very Man, in whom there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female (Gal. iii. 28).

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CHAPTER V.

RISE OF IDOLATRY—THE PATRIARCH JOB.
Gen. x. 6–12.   Job.

SACRED History does not record many facts connected with the immediate descendants of Noah. The scene of the Confusion of Tongues continued to attract around it a large number of the early inhabitants of the world, and here was established one of the earliest of the great empires of the earth by Nimrod, a son of Cush, and grandson of Ham. Of great powers and gigantic stature, he first obtained wide-spread renown by his exploits as a mighty hunter, and the services he rendered the surrounding populations by ridding them of the terror of noxious and terrible animals. In process of time, however, he combined with his exploits as a hunter the conquest of men, and founded a great empire on the plains of Shinar, the chief towns of which were Babel, Erech (Edessa), Accad (Nisibis), and Calneh (Ctesiphon). Thence (for such seems to be the meaning of Gen. x. 11) he extended his dominions along the course of the Tigris into Assyria, amongst the descendants of Shem, where he founded a second group of cities, Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen. At a period when men’s lives were prolonged so far beyond the period now allotted them, it is probable that this great conqueror may have carried on his successful invasions for nearly 200 years, and after death was worshipped under the title of Belus, or Bel, the Lord. Certainly the vast ruins that overspread the site of the ancient Babylonian empire seem to tell of the days when there were great heroes in the earth; and to Nimrod the modern Arabs ascribe all the great works of ancient times, the Birs-Nimrûd, near Babylon, Tel Nimrûd, near Baghdad, and the Mount of Nimrûd, near Mosul13.

Whether the practice of idolatrous worship was introduced, as some have supposed, by this great hero of the ancient world, or not, certain it is that mankind became more and more addicted to idolatry. Though the knowledge of the one true God, and the promise of salvation, had been handed down by tradition, and though His invisible attributes, even His eternal power and Godhead, were clearly to be discerned in the works of creation (Rom. i. 19, 20), yet mankind glorified Him not as God, neither were they thankful. They began to worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. The sun, moon, and stars, the principle of fire, even the inferior animals and departed heroes, came to be regarded with veneration, and usurped the worship due only to the Supreme. With idolatry came its usual consequences, a deep moral degeneracy, cruelty, tyranny, and licentiousness.

One of the earliest allusions to the worship of the heavenly bodies occurs in the Book of Job (xxxi. 26–28). The age and writer of this book are alike unknown; by some it is ascribed to Job himself, by others to Moses, by others to some writer who lived at a still later period. As, however, the scenes therein described had with great probability been referred to a period very little removed from that at which we have now arrived, it may be well to speak of them here. Job was an eminent Eastern chief, dwelling in very early times in the land of Uz (Job i. 1), probably Arabia Deserta, or, as some suppose, Mesopotamia. Greatest among “the sons of the East,” endowed with all the riches of his age, he ruled piously and wisely over a happy and numerous household, having seven sons and three daughters. To considerable mental attainments he added a moral uprightness, which preserved him blameless in all the relations of life, and was declared by the Lord Himself to be without his like in all the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God, and eschewed evil (Job i. 8). With large and liberal hand he distributed to the necessities of the poor, so that whenever the ear heard him then it blessed him, when the eye saw him it gave witness to him; the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him, and he caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. But in the midst of this almost perfect temporal happiness he was suddenly overwhelmed with the heaviest misfortunes that can befall the sons of men. He who slandered God to Eve slandered Job before God, and affirmed that he did not fear Him for naught; that if he were stripped of all his possessions he would be as other men, and curse the Lord to His face (i. 11). To put, therefore, the patriarch’s faith to the most certain test, the Accuser of mankind received mysterious permission to cast him down, and try him with the most grievous afflictions. Blow after blow descended upon him. From being the lord of a numerous and attached household he suddenly became childless, for the storm of the desert swept over the house where his sons and daughters were assembled, and crushed them all beneath its ruins. From being the richest of the sons of the East he suddenly became a beggar, for the thunderbolt, “the fire of God,” fell and struck down all his sheep, as they were grazing quietly with their shepherds, while his camels were carried off by a band of Chaldean robbers, and his oxen and asses by a horde of Sabeans. And not only did he become a childless, beggared, ruined man, but upon his own body the black leprosy of the East set its awful mark, making him an object hateful and loathsome to look upon. Smitten with sores from the sole of his foot even unto his crown, he sat apart, forsaken by his friends and even by his wife. But amidst these awful trials his faith was not prostrated. When the terrible tidings reached him of the fate of his household he said, in words of sublime resignation, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord; when his wife, utterly unable to bear up, bade him curse his Maker and die, he replied, What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? (Job i. 21, ii. 10).

Before long the news of his terrible affliction was noised abroad, and three of his old friends, Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuah, and Zophar of Naamath, came to mourn with him and to comfort him. In their presence Job at length brake forth into desperate words, and cursed the day of his birth (Job iii. 1). The storm of his soul was not calmed by the sympathy of his friends. Instead of pouring in the oil of comfort, they only heightened his griefs by ascribing his calamities to some great sin, some secret guilt, if not committed by himself at least by his children, for which he was now punished. A distinct question was thus propounded, Is great suffering a proof of great guilt? Job’s friends affirmed it was, and exhorted him to repent and confess. Job denied, and at great length laboured to refute this (Job iv. 5–xxxii). At the close of their dialogue, Elihu, another and younger friend of the patriarch, intervened, to moderate between the disputants. Unable to solve the problem of Job’s calamities, he declared that afflictions, even when not the direct consequences of sin, were intended for good, and he reproved his friend for justifying himself rather than the Almighty, and speaking unadvisedly of His works (Job xxxii–xxxvii). At length the Lord Himself condescended to interpose in the controversy. From the midst of a whirlwind, in words of incomparable grandeur and sublimity, he silenced the murmurs of his servant, bidding him reflect on the glory of creation, and learn from the marvels of the animal kingdom the stupendous power and wisdom of Him with whom it is useless for a created being to contend (Job xxxviii–xli). Thereupon, in deep contrition, Job acknowledged his error and supplicated the Divine pardon for the bitterness and arrogance of his complaints. This penitent acknowledgment was accepted, and Job’s three friends were severely reproved for their uncharitable surmises respecting the origin of his misfortunes. On the intercession, however, of the patriarch they were pardoned; and He who had suffered him to be thus sorely tried, when his trials had served the purpose for which they had been sent, once more showered down upon him the riches of His goodness, restoring him to still greater prosperity than he had even enjoyed before, and made him the father of seven sons and three daughters14, celebrated for their beauty above all the maidens of the East. Job survived his altered fortunes upwards of 140 years, and then, having seen his children to the fourth generation, died in a good old age, an instructive example of integrity (Ezek. xiv. 14, 20), and of patience under the most trying calamities (Jas. v. 11).

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CHAPTER II.

LIFE OF ABRAHAM CONTINUED.
Gen. xv.–xxv.   B.C. 1913–1822.

WE now enter on another and a different scene in the history of Abram. He had been victorious over the Assyrian kings; he had gotten him honour as the prompt avenger of injustice and oppression before the chiefs of the land in which he was a pilgrim and a sojourner; he had been solemnly blessed by the King of Righteousness; but where was the fulfilment of the promise for which he had so long been waiting? He had no son, no single pledge of the mighty nation destined to spring from his loins. When, therefore, his all-merciful Guide appeared to him again in vision, to assure him of safety and protection, he could not restrain the deep sorrow of his heart, and mournfully complained that in place of a son, one born in his house, probably Eliezer of Damascus, would be his heir. On this occasion the Almighty not only solemnly assured His desponding servant that a son should be born to him, an earnest of a seed as numerous as the stars of heaven, and that the land on which he walked should undoubtedly be their inheritance, but, as in the case of Noah after the Flood, he vouchsafed to him an outward and visible sign to strengthen and support his faith. He bade the patriarch take a heifer, a ram, and a she-goat, each three years old, together with a turtle-dove and a young pigeon, and after dividing them all, except the birds, to lay them piece by piece over against the other. Familiar, doubtless, with this ancient method of ratifying a covenant, Abram did as the Lord had told him, slew the victims, and laid the divided portions in order. Then from morning until evening he watched them, and from time to time drove away the birds of prey which hovered over them. At length the sun went down, and a deep sleep fell upon him, and a horror of great darkness gathered around him. Amidst the deepening gloom there appeared to him a Smoking Furnace and a Burning Lamp passing along the space between the divided victims. Presently a Voice came to him telling him that his seed should be a stranger in a land that was not theirs, that there they should suffer affliction 400 years; that afterwards, in the fourth generation, when the cup of the Amorites was full, they should come out with great substance, return to the spot where the patriarch now was, and enter on their promised inheritance. Thus, amidst mingled light and gloom, the ancestor of the elect nation was warned of the chequered fortunes which awaited his progeny, while at the same time he was assured of the ultimate fulfilment of the Promise, and the actual boundaries of the lands of his inheritance were marked out from the river of Egypt to the distant Euphrates; and in this confidence Abram was content to possess his soul in patience (Lk. xxi. 19).

As yet, it will be observed, it had not been expressly said that his wife Sarai was the destined mother of the long-promised son. As the prospect, therefore, of her contributing to the fulfilment of the Promise became more and more remote, she seems to have concluded that this honour was not reserved for her, and accordingly persuaded her husband to take her handmaid, Hagar, an Egyptian, as a secondary wife, that by her he might obtain what was denied herself. Abram complied with her suggestion, and Hagar conceived; but the consequences did not tend to increase the patriarch’s happiness. In a moment of elation Hagar mocked her mistress, and Sarai dealt hardly with her, till she fled from her into the southern wilderness, on the way that led to her native land. There, as she halted near a fountain of water, an angel of the Lord met her, and bade her return and submit herself to her mistress, assuring her at the same time that she should give birth to a son, whom she was to call Ishmael (whom God hears). Though the son of a bondwoman (Gal. iv. 22, 23), no mean future lay before him; he should become the ancestor of a numerous seed, who, like himself, would be true roving sons of the desert, their hand against every man, and every man’s hand against them. In remembrance of this incident Hagar named the fountain Beer-lahai-roi, (the well of the God that appeareth), and returned to the tents of Sarah, where, in process of time she gave birth to Ishmael, when Abram was 86 years old.

Again thirteen years rolled away, and still the Promise was not fulfilled. But when hope might almost have ceased to hope, God appeared once more to Abram, recapitulated the main outline of the Covenant-Promise, changed his name from Abram (a high father), to Abraham (the father of a multitude), and assured him that at length the long-expected time was well-nigh come. But in prospect of the peculiar blessing about to be bestowed upon him, he himself, and all his seed after him, must carry about with them a perpetual pledge of their covenant relation to Jehovah. The rite of Circumcision must now be adopted by him, and instead of being the badge of any favoured class amongst the nation destined to spring from his loins, was, on pain of excommunication, to be open to the lowliest member of the Hebrew commonwealth, even to the bond-servant and the stranger. At the same time it was intimated to the patriarch that his wife Sarai, whose name also was now changed to Sarah (princess), and no other, was to be the mother of the promised child, that it would be born during the next year, and be called Isaac (Laughter); while Ishmael also, for whom Abraham had prayed, would not be forgotten, but be a partaker in the Divine blessing, and become the father of twelve princes, the ancestors of a great nation. Thereupon Abraham complied with the Divine command, and was circumcised, together with Ishmael, now thirteen years of age, and all the male members of his household.

Shortly after this, as the patriarch sat, in the heat of the day, under the oak of Mamre, he received a visit from three mysterious Strangers, whom he entertained with becoming hospitality. The meal over which he had hastily prepared, one of them inquired for his wife, and formally announced that within the year she would be the mother of a son. His words were overheard by Sarah, and she laughed incredulously at the possibility of such an event, but was thereupon reproved by the Speaker, and assured in a still more confident manner of the fulfilment of His word. Then the Three left the tent and turned their steps eastward towards Sodom. Abraham accompanied them, and on the way one of them, in whom he recognised no other than the Angel of the Covenant, informed him of the real purport of this visit to the cities where his nephew Lot had taken up his abode. The sin of these cities was very great, and their cup was now full; their inhabitants had wearied themselves with wickedness, and their licentiousness and iniquity called to Heaven for a visible revelation of Divine wrath, and judgment was now even at the door. Informed of the impending doom the Friend of God drew near, and with marvellous boldness blended with the deepest humility pleaded with the Almighty for the guilty cities. Peradventure there might be found therein at least fifty, or forty-five, or forty, or thirty, or twenty, or even ten righteous souls, would the Lord of all the earth spare them for ten’s sake? Thereupon he was assured that if only ten righteous souls could be found the cities should be spared. While he was thus pleading with God, the two other angels entered Sodom, and were hospitably entertained by Lot. But their celestial beauty only served to excite the wickedness of the inhabitants, who surrounded Lot’s house, and, in spite of his earnest expostulations, would have offered them personal violence had they not been suddenly stricken with blindness. As the night wore on, his visitors assured Lot of the certain destruction of the city, and warned him to gather together with all speed every member of his family if he would save them from the impending judgment. Lot did as he was advised; but his warning was lost upon his sons-in-law and his daughters-in-law, and he seemed unto them as one that mocked. When the day dawned, the angels broke off any further delay by laying hold on him, and his wife, and his two daughters, and having dragged them forth beyond the city, bade them flee to the neighbouring mountain range if they would not be consumed. But thither Lot was afraid to flee, and in compliance with his urgent entreaty was permitted to betake himself to the town of Bela, or Zoar (Little), on the southern extremity of the Dead Sea. The sun rose as he entered this city of refuge, and then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire out of heaven, and utterly swept away by an awful convulsion every trace of the guilty cities and their inhabitants, the site of which became henceforth a perpetual desolation. Few as were the remnants of this fearful overthrow, yet one of these few failed to reach the little city of refuge. In spite of the Angel’s reiterated warning, Lot’s wife lingered, looked back, and, caught by the advancing sulphurous tide, was smothered as she stood, and became a pillar of salt (Gen. xix. 26; Lk. xvii. 32). As for Lot himself, afraid to dwell even in Zoar, he fled with his two daughters to the eastern mountains, and became the father of two sons, Moab and Ben-Ammi, the ancestors of two powerful nations—the Moabites and Ammonites.

Shortly after this terrible judgment, Abraham left the oak of Mamre, where he had so long encamped, and journeyed in a southerly direction towards Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur, at that time the principal seat of the Philistines, whose chief was known by the hereditary title of Abimelech, or Father-King29. Under the same apprehensions which he had felt when drawing nigh to Egypt, Abraham wished that Sarah should pass for his sister, and again exposed her to imminent risk. But, as before, the Lord mercifully intervened, and the Philistine chief restored his wife to the patriarch, together with ample presents (Gen. xx. 14–16). At length the time had come for which Abraham, now upwards of 100 years of age, had so long waited. Either at Gerar or Beersheba, Sarah gave birth to the child of promise, who was duly circumcised on the eighth day, and named Isaac (Laughter) according to the Divine command. At the feast given on the occasion of his weaning, Ishmael mocked, or in some way insulted the child. This act, observed by Sarah, roused all her animosity, and she demanded the instant dismissal of the boy and his mother. Though sorely against his will, Abraham, advised by God, yielded to his wife, and early on the following morning Hagar and her son were sent away to wander in the wilderness of Beersheba. In a short time the water in her skin-bottle was spent, and the boy tormented with thirst seemed at the point of death. Unable to endure the sight of his sufferings, Hagar laid him under the shade of the desert shrubs, and sat down about a bowshot off. But the boy was not thus to die; God heard his cry, and the angel of the Lord called to Hagar out of heaven, and bade her not despair. At the same time her eyes were opened to discern a well of water, with which she filled her bottle and gave the lad drink. Thus his life was preserved, and he grew and prospered, and dwelt in the wild desert of Paran, near Mount Sinai, and was renowned for his skill in the use of the bow. Marrying an Egyptian he became the father of twelve sons and one daughter (Gen. xxv. 13–15; xxviii. 9; xxxvi. 3), the ancestors of the chief portion of the wild Arab tribes, living by warlike forays and plunder, their hand against every man, and every man’s hand against them.

Meanwhile Abraham was living in peace and security, feared and respected by his Philistine neighbours in the south country, near Beersheba, when a far keener trial befell him than any he had yet experienced. The call from his own country, the famine that drove him into Egypt, the desertion of Lot, the long deferring of the promised seed, the separation from Ishmael, all these had been sore trials to flesh and blood. But now, when the hope of his life seemed at length to have been gained, he was commanded to take his son, his only son Isaac a three days’ journey into the land of Moriah, and offer him up as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that should be shown him. Utterly inexplicable as this command must have seemed, and indescribably painful to his feelings, the patriarch’s trust in God did not falter. Assured that He who had called him into being could, if it pleased Him, raise up his son even from the dead (Heb. xi. 19), he rose up early in the morning, clave the wood for the sacrifice, saddled his ass, and with two young men and Isaac commenced his journey. On the third day he lifted up his eyes, and beheld the spot afar off; thereupon leaving the young men behind, he laid the wood upon his son, and with the fire in his hand, and a knife, ascended the mountain to the spot30 of which God had told him. Marvelling that no victim had been brought, but assured that a lamb would be provided for a burnt-offering, Isaac accompanied his father to the summit, and when the altar had been built and the wood laid thereon, submitted without a murmur to be bound and placed upon it. Another moment and the father’s hand was actually outstretched to slay his son, when a voice from heaven arrested him, and bade him forbear to proceed further, seeing that the end for which this mysterious trial had been sent was now gained, for Abraham had not withheld his only son, but given proof of his willingness to surrender even him to the Divine call. At the same moment the patriarch looked, and beheld behind him a ram caught in a thicket by its horns, which he took and offered as a burnt-offering instead of his son. In memory of this eventful day he named the place Jehovah-Jireh, i.e. Jehovah will see or provide, and again received the assurance of the Divine blessing upon himself and his future descendants, who should be multiplied as the stars of heaven, and as the sand upon the seashore, and become the channel of blessings to all the nations of the earth.

This is the culminating point in Abraham’s life. Implicit trust in the Most High, unfaltering obedience to His will, had never been more signally displayed, and his faith was counted to him for righteousness (Rom. iv. 3, 9). From this time his course was calm and peaceful. Leaving Beersheba he turned northwards, and once more abode under the oak of Mamre. Here he lost the partner of his long and eventful career. At the age of 127 (the only instance in which the age of a woman is recorded in Scripture) Sarah died, and was laid in the cave of the field of Machpelah, a spot now covered by the Mosque of Hebron, which Abraham bought for 400 shekels of silver, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite. So deep was the respect of the children of Heth for the mighty prince who had so long lived among them, that in spite of the usual Oriental jealousy on this point they would willingly have permitted him to bury his dead in the choicest of their own sepulchres. But this Abraham declined, and the Cave of Machpelah with the surrounding field was made over to him for a possession for ever31.

Three years afterwards, anxious to prevent an alliance between his son and any of the Canaanitish nations, he sent the eldest servant of his house, probably Eliezer of Damascus, into Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor his brother, to procure from thence a wife for him. His servant faithfully discharged his commission, and the piety he displayed reflecting the goodness of the patriarch himself was rewarded. At a well outside the city of Haran he met Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel32 the son of Nahor, going forth with her pitcher on her shoulder to draw water. In answer to his inquiries she told him who she was, and conducted him to the house of her brother Laban. There he recounted all that had befallen his master in the land of his pilgrimage, and made known the purpose of his errand. Rebekah, when asked by her brother and mother, announced her readiness to accompany the servant to the tents of Abraham, and in the course of time became Isaac’s wife (Gen. xxiv.).

Before long Abraham himself also married again, and by Keturah his second wife, became the father of six children, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah (Gen. xxv. 2), the ancestors of Arabian and Midianitish tribes. Lest they should dispute the inheritance with Isaac, the prudent patriarch, while he yet lived, presented them with gifts, and sent them away into the south-east country (Gen. xxv. 6) where their descendants settled along the borders of the Elanitic Gulf in considerable numbers. And then the Father of the Faithful, the Friend of God, being 175 years old, had reached the term of life allotted to him. In a good old age, and full of years, he was gathered unto his people, and was laid by Isaac and Ishmael also, who had come up from the wild desert of Paran to assist in these last sad offices, by the side of his beloved Sarah, in the cave of Machpelah33.

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CHAPTER III.

THE HISTORY OF ISAAC.
Gen. xxv.–xxvii.   B.C. 1822–1760.

FOR nineteen years after their marriage Isaac and Rebekah were childless. But at length, in answer to earnest prayer, Rebekah became the mother of twin sons, Esau (hairy, rough) and Jacob (he that holds by the heel, or supplanter). The bitter enmity afterwards to exist between the brothers was foreshadowed even before their birth, and as they grew the difference in their characters became still more prominent. Esau became a cunning hunter, wild and daring, even as his rough and robust frame betokened, revelling like a true son of the desert in the excitement of the chase. Jacob, on the other hand, was a quiet domestic youth, dwelling in tents, the favourite of his mother, while Esau, by a not uncommon caprice of affection, was the favourite of the gentle retiring Isaac, whose keen relish for savoury food was gratified by his success in the hunting-field (Gen. xxv. 24–28).

It is in connection with his favourite pursuit that Esau first attracts our notice. As the eldest son he had several important privileges. He held superior rank in the family (Gen. xlix. 3), and would succeed to a double portion of his father’s property (Gen. xlviii. 22; Deut. xxi. 17); his also was, in all probability, the priestly office (Num. viii. 17–19), and the Covenant-Blessing (Heb. xii. 16, 17; Gen. xxvii. 28, 29, 36). These were the privileges of his birthright, and by an Oriental patriarch were held as dear as life itself. On one occasion Esau returned faint and weary from the chase, and saw his brother Jacob preparing some dark red pottage of lentiles34. Famished and exhausted, he longed for the fragrant mess, and implored his brother to let him have it. Seeing his distress, Jacob determined to avail himself of it for his own ends, and agreed to give his brother the pottage on condition that he sold him his birthright. Unable to control the pangs of hunger, bent on the immediate gratification of his appetite, Esau was willing to barter all his privileges for a single meal. But words were not sufficient for his artful brother. He must have an oath solemnly attesting the exchange. Swear unto me, said he, and Esau swore, and sold his birthright for one morsel of meat (Heb. xii. 16), and ate and drank, and rose up and went his way35.

At a subsequent period, in consequence of a grievous famine, Isaac left Lahai-roi, and journeyed southward to Gerar, within the fertile coast-line of Philistia. While here he received a warning from the Almighty against going down into Egypt, and was assured of the continuance of the same blessing which his father had enjoyed (Gen. xxvi. 1–5). Thus encouraged he continued to dwell at Gerar, but, like his father, was not always proof against temptations to distrust his Almighty Protector. He persuaded Rebekah to represent herself as his sister, and subjected himself to a cutting rebuke from Abimelech for this unworthy equivocation. At Gerar his wealth increased exceedingly, and he made the first advance beyond the purely pastoral life. He sowed in that land, and reaped within the year an hundred fold (Gen. xxvi. 12). But his wealth and prosperity in time provoked the jealousy of the Philistines, and they stopped up the wells which his father had dug; nor did the patriarch feel himself secure till he had moved still further southward to Beersheba. Here, like Abraham before him, he built an altar unto Jehovah, and called upon His Name, and was rewarded by a second confirmation of the covenant Promise, while his contentions with the Philistines were brought to a close, and a mutual compact ratified between them (Gen. xxvi. 26–31). But his domestic happiness was not equally secured. To the great grief of both his parents, Esau, now 40 years of age, contracted an alliance with Judith the daughter of Beeri, and Bashemath, the daughter of Elon, both of the race of the Hittites, to whom he afterwards added Mahalath, a daughter of Ishmael (Gen. xxvi. 34; xxviii. 9).

Of the greater portion of Isaac’s life at Beersheba the Scripture narrative tells nothing, nor is any incident recorded till we hear that he waxed old and his eyes grew dim so that he could not see. Then reminded of the uncertain tenure of life, he resolved by a solemn act to bestow the patriarchal blessing upon his eldest son. Summoning Esau before him, he bade him go forth to the hunt and bring him venison such as he loved, promising the blessing as his reward. His words did not escape the quick ears of Rebekah. Eager to obtain this important privilege for her favourite Jacob, she bade him, during the absence of his brother, slay two kids, with which she prepared savoury meat such as Isaac loved. Then arraying him in garments belonging to his brother, and placing the skins upon his hands and neck, she directed him to go into the presence of his father, and pass himself off as his wild, rough brother Esau. After some hesitation, Jacob fell in with her plan, and in the disguise she had prepared presented himself before his father. But Isaac, though old and dimsighted, was not free from his suspicions. To Jacob’s assurance that he had been to the chase and brought of the prey, he replied by enquiring how he had found it so quickly. Nor did the ready but untruthful answer that the Lord had brought it to him relieve his mind. Come near, said he, that I may feel thee, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went near, and his father felt him. Another question, and another falsehood followed; and at length Jacob was bidden to present the venison that he had taken, and the old man ate and drank, and then bestowed upon him in all its fulness the Covenant Blessing. He prayed that God would give his son of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine; that He would make people to serve him, and nations to bow down to him, so that he might be lord over his brethren, and see his mother’s sons bow down to him, a blessing to all that blessed him, a curse to all that cursed him (Gen. xxvii. 28, 29).

Thus successful in his shameful artifice, Jacob had scarcely gone forth from his father’s presence, when the true Esau returned from the chase. With savoury meat he too presented himself before Isaac, and besought his blessing. The old man trembled very exceedingly when he heard the voice of his eldest son, but told him that he had come too late. His brother, the Supplanter, had been before him, and the irrevocable words had been spoken. With a great and exceeding bitter cry Esau implored his father for one blessing which perchance might be left; and at length Isaac assured him that his dwelling would be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; but he must live by his sword and serve his brother, till the day when he too should gain the dominion, and should shake his brother’s yoke from off his neck36 (Gen. xxvii. 39, 40).

Enraged at the deception which had been practised upon him, Esau did not conceal his design of revenging himself by putting Jacob to death, and only deferred it till the days of mourning for his father were ended, whose death he deemed to be near at hand. But his dark threat became known to Rebekah. Anxious to save her favourite son, she persuaded him to undertake a journey to his uncle Laban at Padan-Aram, promising, when a few days were over, and his brother’s wrath was appeased, to send for him again. Without communicating her real motive in urging this journey, she at the same time secured the acquiescence of Isaac, by pretending anxiety that Jacob should marry one of the daughters of Laban, rather than follow his brother’s example, and contract an alliance among the Hittites. Accordingly Isaac sent for his son, and bade him go to Padan-Aram, urging him to take thence a wife from amongst his own kindred, and then consciously and purposely transferred to him and his seed after him the blessing of Abraham (Gen. xxviii. 1–5).

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CHAPTER V.

HISTORY OF JOSEPH.
Gen. xxxvii.–xlii.   B.C. 1727–1707.

IT was while he was sojourning in the neighbourhood of Hebron, where, like his father, he united agricultural with pastoral occupations (Gen. xxxvii. 7) that the saddest trial of his life befell Jacob. Of all his sons none was dearer to him than Joseph, the child of his beloved Rachel. In token of his affection he bestowed upon him a coat of many colours, probably a tunic furnished with sleeves and reaching down to the ankles, worn by youths of the richer class39. By some this is supposed to indicate his intention of transferring to him, as being the eldest son of the favourite Rachel, the right of primogeniture. Whether this was so or not, it roused much jealousy and ill-feeling amongst Joseph’s brothers, already incensed by the circumstance of his bearing to his father, when seventeen years of age, an evil report of the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah, with whom he kept the flocks. Another incident fanned the flame of ill-feeling. Joseph unwittingly told his brethren of two dreams he had dreamt, in one of which he had seemed to see them binding sheaves in the field, and lo! his sheaf rose and stood upright, while their sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to his sheaf; in the other he beheld the sun, moon, and the eleven stars making obeisance to him. Even Jacob rebuked his favourite son for his seeming self-exaltation, though he observed the saying (Gen. xxxvii. 11).

After a time an opportunity was presented to the brothers of taking a cruel revenge. Though Jacob was settled in the vale of Hebron, a portion of his numerous flocks and herds were kept by his sons on the rich pasture-grounds near Shechem. Thither on one occasion Jacob sent his favourite son to see how his brethren fared, and bring him word again. Joseph set out, and being directed by a man whom he met, to Dothan40, or “the Two Wells,” a place about twelve miles north of Shechem, famous for its pasturage, he went thither in quest of them. From the rising ground, where they were keeping their flocks, the brothers descried the Dreamer approaching, and straightway resolved to slay him and cast him into a pit, and then report to his father that he had been devoured by wild beasts. From actually putting him to death they were, however, dissuaded by Reuben, and contented themselves with stripping him of his coat of many colours, and casting him into an empty cistern, intending probably to let him die by hunger. But when they had done this, and had sat down to eat, a company of Ishmaelite or Midianite merchants (for the two names are used interchangeably) approached, mounted on camels, and bearing spicery and balm, going down the high road41 which passed near from Gilead to Egypt. Thereupon Judah proposed that they should sell him to these traders, and he was taken up from the pit, and sold to the Ishmaelites, who paid for him twenty pieces of silver, the usual price of a male slave from five to twenty years of age. Reuben was not present when the cruel bargain was struck, and was greatly distressed when, on his return, he found that his brother was gone. But the others killed a kid, dipped Joseph’s coat of many colours in its blood, and brought it to Jacob, with the hypocritical enquiry whether it was his son’s coat or no, and informing him that they had found it thus smeared with blood. Even Reuben did not reveal the true state of the case, and Jacob, supposing that his favourite son had been slain by wild beasts, put sackcloth upon his loins, and refusing every proffered consolation, mourned for him many days (Gen. xxxvii. 29–35).

Meanwhile the Midianitish caravan kept on its southward course, and eventually reaching Egypt, sold Joseph to Potiphar42, an officer of Pharaoh, and Captain of the Executioners (Gen. xxxviii. 36 margin). In his house, Joseph though a foreigner and a slave, gradually won the confidence of his master, who appears to have been a wealthy man, and possessed of property in the field as well as in the house, so that before long, in the capacity of overseer, he was entrusted with the entire possessions of the Egyptian, and the Divine blessing rested upon his house for Joseph’s sake.

But this period of happiness and prosperity was destined to come to an abrupt termination. With the profligacy for which the Egyptian women were notorious, the wife of Potiphar on one occasion tempted Joseph to commit adultery with her, and when he resisted all her seductions, charged him to her husband with the very crime she had ineffectually tempted him to commit. Thereupon Potiphar, fully believing her story, without bringing his faithful steward before any public tribunal, cast him into the prison in his own house. But amidst this grievous trial Joseph was not forsaken. The Lord was with him, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison, who, convinced of his fidelity and uprightness, entrusted him with the care of all the prisoners there confined. Amongst these there soon appeared the Chief of Pharaoh’s Cupbearers, and the Chief of his Bakers, two high officers of the Egyptian court, on whom Joseph was specially directed to wait. During their imprisonment each of them dreamt a dream. The Chief of the Cupbearers dreamt that a vine was before him, on which were three branches; that it was as though it budded, and its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes, that of these he took and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup which was in his hand, and gave it to that monarch. The Chief of the Bakers dreamt that he had three white baskets on his head, the uppermost full of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh, which the birds ate out of the baskets on his head. Convinced that these dreams portended events of great importance in their lives, and unable to interpret them, these high officers were filled with sadness. But Joseph, being informed of the cause, by virtue of his prophetic gifts interpreted the dreams, and announced to the Chief of the Butlers that within three days, on the anniversary of Pharaoh’s birthday, he should be restored to his office, while, within the same period, his fellow-prisoner would be hanged upon a tree, where the birds would eat his flesh from off him. As he had predicted, so it came to pass. Within the specified period, the one of these grandees was executed, and the other restored to his former high position. But though the Hebrew Captive had told the Chief of the Butlers his own sad story, in the hour of prosperity the restored grandee forgat his benefactor, and his touching request that he would intercede with Pharaoh on his behalf (Gen. xl. 12–23).

Two more years, therefore, of tedious imprisonment passed over Joseph’s head, when one night Pharaoh himself was troubled with two mysterious dreams. In the first he seemed to stand by the banks of the Nile, and behold out of it there came seven well-favoured kine and fatfleshed, and fed in the marsh grass that lined the banks. And behold after them there came up seven poor, ill-favoured, leanfleshed kine, and they ate up the seven well-favoured and fat kine, and when they had done so, it could not be known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ill-favoured as at the beginning. In his second dream, the monarch beheld seven ears of corn growing upon one stalk, full, fat, and good, and after them seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind, which devoured the seven full and fat ears. Troubled with these visions of the night he awoke, and sent for all the magicians of Egypt and all the wise men thereof, and told them his dream, but they were unable to give him any interpretation. In this difficulty the Chief of the Butlers bethought him of his youthful benefactor in the prison, and told Pharaoh what had befallen him there, and how a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the Captain of the Executioners, had interpreted his dream. Upon this the monarch sent for Joseph, who was brought into the royal presence, and having been told the nature of the dreams, informed Pharaoh that they were sent by the great God to forewarn him of what He was about to do. The seven good kine and the seven good ears denoted seven years of plenty; the seven thin ill-favoured kine and the seven empty ears of corn denoted seven years of very grievous famine, about to befall the entire land of Egypt. The doubling of the dreams denoted that the event was certain and imminent. He advised, therefore, that without delay the monarch should set over the land a man discreet and wise, with overseers under him, to take up the fifth part of the land during the seven years of plenty, and lay up corn and food in various cities against the seven years of famine, which were assuredly to come (Gen. xli. 14–36).

This advice found favour in the eyes of Pharaoh, and deeming no other so well fitted for the post as the interpreter of his dreams, he appointed him to fill it, and, in token of his freedom, placed on his hand his own signet ring and a gold collar about his neck, and arraying him in vestures of fine linen, he caused him to ride in the second chariot that he had, preceded by heralds crying Bow the knee. Joseph was thus invested with the dignity of an Oriental Vizier, and could act in the name of the king. Besides these marks of honour, Pharaoh changed his name to Zaphnath-paaneah43, or the Revealer of Secrets, and united him in marriage with Asenath44, the daughter of Poti-pherah (devoted to Ra, or the Sun), priest or prince (Gen. xli. 45 margin) of On, the later Heliopolis, and the religious capital of the country.

Thus at the age of thirty, after thirteen years of painful vicissitudes, the son of Jacob was elevated to the highest position next to the sovereign himself in the great kingdom of Egypt. In accordance with the plan he himself had indicated, he straightway commenced a tour throughout the land, and during the seven years of plenty bought up a fifth part of the corn in the country, and laid it up in granaries in the various cities. During the same period he became the father of two sons, to whom, though born of an Egyptian wife, he gave Hebrew names, calling the first-born Manasseh, “a Forgetter;” for God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house. The second he named Ephraim, “Fruitful;” for God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. At the close of the seven years of plenty, the seven years of dearth drew on, and its effects were felt not only in Egypt, but in all the neighbouring lands. During the first part of this period, the wants of the people were relieved by the abundance which the foresight of the Vizier had stored up. He opened all his granaries and sold unto the Egyptians, delivering over the money into Pharaoh’s exchequer. When money failed, barter was resorted to, and the Egyptians obtained bread in exchange for their horses, cattle, and flocks. When at length these means were exhausted, they sold him their land, except that of the priests, who, being provided from the royal treasury, did not feel the horrors of the famine. Thus possessed of the entire country, Joseph improved the opportunity to place the relations between the Egyptian monarch and his people on a settled and legal footing. He made them, indeed, vassals of their sovereign, but in place of allowing them to be taxed according to royal caprice, he disposed of the land to them, on the understanding that four parts were to be their own, for seed of the field, and for food for them and their families, while a fifth part was to be paid annually to the king in place of ground-rent; an arrangement by no means oppressive, when it is considered that the soil sometimes yielded thirty-fold, or even a greater increase (Gen. xli. 46–57).

At an early period during the seven years of famine, ten of Joseph’s brethren went down into Egypt at the suggestion of their father, and presented themselves before him with the petition to be allowed to buy corn. In the Viceroy, second only to the great Pharaoh, they did not for a moment recognize the boy whom twenty years before they had lowered into the dry pit at Dothan. But though Joseph knew them, and recognized the fulfilment of his early dreams, he did not reveal himself to them. Through an interpreter he spake roughly unto them, pronounced them to be spies who had come down to see the nakedness of the land, and when they denied the charge, declared they should be imprisoned till one of them had brought down their youngest brother. For three days he actually kept them in ward, and finally, on condition that one remained behind as a hostage, permitted them to return with corn for their families. Stricken with remorse, and not imagining that the Viceroy could understand their language, they acknowledged that their sin had found them out, and recalled the day when they saw the anguish of their brother, and turned a deaf ear to his beseeching entreaties that they would not deal hardly with him. Then Simeon was bound before their eyes, and sad and sorrowful they commenced their return. But on the road they had fresh cause for alarm and confusion. On opening their sacks they discovered not only that corn had been supplied them, but that their money had been restored to them. Marvelling at this strange circumstance, they reached home, and recounted to their father all that had befallen them, and how he could not hope to see Simeon again till they returned with their youngest brother Benjamin into the presence of the Viceroy of Egypt. On hearing this hard condition, Jacob burst forth into bitter complaints, and though Reuben offered the life of his two children as a pledge for Benjamin’s safe return, absolutely refused to allow him to accompany them; his brother, said he, is dead, and he is left alone; if mischief befall him by the way, then shall ye bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave (Gen. xlii. 38).

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CHAPTER VI.

JACOB’S DESCENT INTO EGYPT—DEATH OF JOSEPH.
Gen. xliii.–l.   B.C. 1707–1635.

BUT as time went on, and the corn the Brothers had brought from Egypt was consumed, it became absolutely necessary to go thither a second time, if they would live and not die. Without Benjamin, however, they knew the journey would be useless, and Benjamin their father would not send. At length Judah stood forward as spokesman for the rest, and offered to bear for ever in his own person the blame, if any evil befell him, till after a struggle Jacob consented. With a present of such things as the land afforded, a little balm, a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds, with double money also in their hand, the brothers took Benjamin from his sorrowing father, and once more commenced their journey to Egypt. Arrived there they were again presented to the Viceroy, who perceiving that Benjamin was with them, ordered the steward of his house to conduct them home, and to slay and make ready, that they might dine with him at noon. Full of fear, the brothers followed the steward, and on the way informed him of their surprise, when on their return from their previous visit, they found their money in their sacks. The steward, however, answered them kindly, restored Simeon to them, and brought them water to wash their feet. At noon Joseph returned, and the brothers spread out the present their father had sent, bowing themselves before him to the earth. After some questions touching the welfare of the old man they had left in the land of Canaan, he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and his whole soul yearned towards him, and he entered into his chamber and wept there. Thence having washed his face he returned, commanded the attendants to set on bread, and the brothers sat down ranged each according to his age. Joseph sat at a table by himself, and the Egyptians in his retinue by themselves; for to eat bread with the Hebrews was regarded by them as an abomination. Then from Joseph’s table portions were sent to his brethren, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as great as any of theirs, and they drank and were merry with him (Gen. xliii. 34).

The next morning, as soon as it was light, with sacks replenished, and rejoicing at the successful termination of their journey, the sons of Jacob commenced their return to Canaan. But they had proceeded only a little way from the city, when the Steward of Joseph overtook them, and charged them with returning evil for all the good they had received, and stealing the silver divining cup45 (Gen. xliv. 5) belonging to his master. In the full assurance of their innocence, the brothers not only denied the charge, but declared their willingness that the guilty one should die, and the rest become bondmen to the Viceroy. The sacks were, therefore, taken from the asses, and lo! in Benjamin’s sack, where it had been purposely placed by Joseph’s command, the cup was found. Horror-struck at the discovery, the brothers returned to the house, and flinging themselves on the ground before Joseph, expressed their resolution to become slaves with Benjamin rather than return without him to his heart-broken father. In the dialogue that ensued Judah was again the chief speaker. God, he owned, had found out their iniquity, and they and he with whom the cup had been found would become Joseph’s bondmen. To this, however, Joseph would not consent; he with whom the cup had been found, he alone need remain behind in servitude, the rest might return in peace to their father. Then Judah went near to him, who was even as Pharaoh (Gen. xliv. 18), and in words of utmost pathos related how in obedience to his command, their father had with great difficulty been prevailed on to suffer the child of his old age to accompany them, and how, if he failed to return, he would certainly die, for his life was bound up in the life of his favourite son. Nay, more, he continued, he himself had become surety for the lad, and was now ready, rather than bring down the old man’s grey hairs with sorrow to the grave, to remain alone in the land of Egypt a bondman unto his lord, if only Benjamin and the rest might return into the land of Canaan (Gen. xliv. 18–34).

As Judah proceeded with his moving tale, Joseph could restrain himself no longer. He desired every man to leave the chamber, and he and his brethren were left alone. Then, amidst many tears, he at length broke forth with the astounding words I am Joseph, coupling the revelation with the enquiry Doth my father yet live? But the brothers were too terrified to answer him a word. Thereupon he bade them come near unto him, and again assured them that he was Joseph, their brother, whom they had sold to the Midianitish caravan. Let them not, he said, be grieved that they had sold him into Egypt. God, who orders all things, had sent him thither before them to preserve their lives, and had made him a father unto Pharaoh, and ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Instead of repining for the past, let them return to the old man, their father, and tell him of all his glory in Egypt, and bring him down, and settle, they and their children, their flocks and their herds, and all that they had, in the goodly country of Goshen, frontier. Having thus at length poured forth his pent up feelings, Joseph fell upon Benjamin’s neck, and wept, and kissed him, and likewise all his brethren. Tidings of what had occurred soon reached the ears of Pharaoh, who readily assented to Joseph’s wish that his father should be suffered to settle in the land. Waggons were then made ready to bring him and all that he had; ample provisions were supplied for the journey, and rich presents bestowed upon all the brothers, but especially on Benjamin. Then with a parting charge to see that they fell not out by the way (Gen. xlv. 24), the sons of Jacob returned to their father, and recounted to him all the strange events that had befallen them. The long lost Joseph, the son of the beloved Rachel, was alive, nay, he was governor over all the land of Egypt. At the first announcement Jacob’s heart failed him, nor could he believe their words. But when the waggons that Joseph had provided came in sight, then at length his spirit revived, and he exclaimed, It is enough, Joseph my son is yet alive, I will go and see him before I die (Gen. xlv. 28).

To forsake, however, the familiar pasture grounds of Hebron, to leave the soil promised to him and to his seed for ever, required of the patriarch no little resolution. Abraham had gone down to Egypt, but only to involve himself in great difficulties; Isaac had been on the point of going thither, when he was restrained by the hand of God (Gen. xxvi. 2). Did the Divine Blessing rest on that journey, which an imperious necessity now induced him to essay? Jacob was not long left in doubt. On reaching Beersheba the Almighty appeared to him in vision, and bade him lay aside all apprehensions. In Egypt, in the land of the mighty Pharaohs, He would not fail to protect him, there He would make him a great nation, and thence in the fulness of time He would bring his seed back to the Land of Promise. Thus encouraged Jacob arose from Beersheba, and with his sons, their wives, and their little ones, their herds, their flocks, and all the goods they had gotten in the land of Canaan, commenced his journey. Judah led the way, and on the frontier of Egypt the patriarch met his long lost son, and fell upon his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. Arrived in the land of the Pharaohs, five of Joseph’s brethren were introduced to the reigning monarch. They told him that they were shepherds, that they had come down into Egypt in consequence of the severity of the famine, and requested permission to settle as strangers and foreigners in Goshen, the most easterly frontier-land of Egypt, and offered to become guardians of the royal herds. Permission was granted, and Jacob himself was introduced to Pharaoh, and bestowed his blessing upon the monarch (Gen. xlvii. 1–10).

The period of Jacob’s own sojourning in the land of Ham (Ps. cv. 23) was limited to seventeen years, at the close of which he had reached the age of 147, and perceived that his end was nigh. Informed that his father was sickening, Joseph brought his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh and placed them before his bedside. Guiding his hands wittingly, the aged patriarch stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, though he was the firstborn. At this Joseph was displeased, and would have altered the disposition of his father’s hands. But Jacob refused, and with his hands as they were, bestowed upon the young men and their father his solemn and abiding blessing. Though born in Egypt, Ephraim and Manasseh were to be reckoned as his own sons, and would both grow into great tribes. But as it had been in Jacob’s own case, so would it be with them; the younger brother would be greater than the elder, and his seed should become a multitude of nations. Then turning to Joseph the Patriarch bestowed on him a special mark of affection, even one portion above his brethren, a piece of land which with his sword and his bow he had conquered from the Amorites, probably outside the green vale of Shechem (Gen. xlviii. 22, Josh. xvii. 14, &c.).

And now the day drew nigh when the Patriarch’s eventful life must close. Wishing by virtue of the gift of prophecy, which gained greater power the nearer he approached the borders of the eternal world, to tell them that which should befall them in the last days, he desired that his sons might be summoned to his bedside. Obedient to his word, they gathered round him, and then in prophetic trance “but having his eyes open,” he beheld the mighty vision of the future, and predicted their several fortunes in the land, through which he himself had wandered as a pilgrim for more than one hundred years. First, before him stood Reuben, over whom in the tents of Laban he had rejoiced as his firstborn, his might, and the beginning of his strength. To him by the law of primogeniture belonged the headship of the family, and the double inheritance. But he had proved unworthy of his vocation. Unstable as water, he should not excel. Next in order of their birth came Simeon and Levi. Brethren of one mother, they had been also brethren in cruelty and deceit. In their conduct towards the Shechemites they had proved the fierceness of their anger, and the cruelty of their disposition. Unworthy were they to be the head of a nation which was to be a blessing and not a curse to all peoples of the earth, therefore were they to be divided in Jacob, and scattered in Israel. Next came Judah, and to him the patriarch could assign a portion at least of the blessing of the firstborn. His should be the pre-eminence in power and dignity, him should his brethren praise, before him should his father’s children bow down; his should be the Sceptre and the Lawgiver, nor from beneath his feet should they ever depart, till Shiloh, the Peaceable or Peace-maker came46 (Gen. xlix. 1–10).

Having thus transferred the privileges of the firstborn to Judah and predicted the fortunes of his other sons, the dying Patriarch once more solemnly adjured them, as he had already adjured Joseph, not to leave his bones in Egypt, but to carry them into the land of Hope and Promise, and lay them in the cave of Machpelah, in the family-grave of his fathers, and then he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost. Obedient to such reiterated commands, Joseph caused his father’s body to be embalmed in the Egyptian fashion by the physicians, and obtained permission from Pharaoh to accompany his remains to the burial-place he had marked out for them. Then at the head of a numerous retinue, composed not only of the members of his own family, but also of the court-officers of Pharaoh, and the grandees of the empire, and accompanied by chariots and horsemen, he set out. The nearest road would have been by Gaza, and through the territory of the Philistines. Instead of this, the funeral procession took a long circuitous route round Mount Seir47 and the eastern side of the Dead Sea, and halted at the threshing-floor of Atad, on the east side of the Jordan, opposite Jericho. Here seven days were spent in solemn mourning, and so grievous was the lamentation that the Canaanites of the Jordan valley called the spot Abel-Mizraim, the Meadow, or the Mourning of the Egyptians. Further than this point the Egyptian retinue do not seem to have proceeded. The sons of Jacob alone crossed the Jordan, into the land of Canaan, and laid their father in the cave of Machpelah, by the side of Abram, Isaac, and Sarah (Gen. l. 1–13).

The funeral over, Joseph and his brethren returned to Egypt. Fearful now their father was dead that the Viceroy would requite them for all the evil they had done towards him, the sons of Jacob sent a messenger to intercede in their behalf. But Joseph calmed their fears, and assured them of safety and protection. Together, then, they dwelt in peace and security in the land of Goshen; and Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation, and the children of Machir the son of Manasseh brought up upon his knees. At length, when he had reached the age of 110, perceiving that his end was near, he sent for his brethren, and having assured them that God would certainly visit them, and bring them up out of Egypt into the land which He had promised to their forefathers, and taken an oath of them that they would remove his bones into the same Good Land, he died, and was embalmed, and laid in a coffin in Egypt (Gen. l. 26).

CHAPTER I.

THE BIRTH AND CALLING OF MOSES.
Exod. i.–vi.   B.C. 1706–1491.

THE district of Goshen (frontier), also called the Land of Rameses (Gen. xlvii. 11), where the Israelites were settled during the period of their sojourn in the land of the Pharaohs, was the most easterly border-land of Egypt. It was scarcely included within the boundaries of Egypt proper, and was inhabited by a mixed population of Egyptians and foreigners (Exod. xii. 38). Eminently a pasture land and adapted to the rearing of flocks and herds, it included also a considerable portion of fruit-bearing soil, which owed its fertility to the overflowing of the Nile, called by the Egyptians Hapi-Mu, the genius of the waters, by the Israelites Sihor, or Shihor, the black (Is. xxiii. 3; Jer. ii. 18). Touching on the west the green valley of this wondrous river, and stretching onwards to the yellow sands of the Arabian desert immediately south of Palestine, it was then, as it has always been, the most productive part of Egypt, yielding luxuriant crops of wheat and millet, and abounding in cucumbers and melons, gourds and beans, and other vegetable growths (Num. xi. 5).

Sacred History does not reveal to us many particulars respecting the early portion of the period during which the sons of Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. We know that they were fruitful and multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty, so that when the time came for them to go forth from Egypt they could scarcely have numbered less than two million souls. We need not, however, suppose that these were all the direct descendants of the seventy immediate relatives of Jacob. When that Patriarch and his sons went down into Egypt they would naturally take with them not only their flocks and herds, but their menservants and maidservants (Gen. xlv. 10, 11). Of the number of these we can form some calculation by remembering the 318 trained servants, who accompanied Abraham at the rescue of Lot51 (Gen. xiv. 14); the great store of servants possessed by Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 13, 14), two-thirds at least of whom passed into the possession of Jacob, and must be added to the two hosts which he brought from Mesopotamia (Gen. xxxii. 7, 8). But even thus their increase was marvellous, and must be ascribed to the direct superintending Hand of God. The effect, however, of their stay was perceptible in other respects. They not only increased in numbers, but became acquainted with many arts and sciences, and thus fitted for their future national existence. One portion, indeed, of the nation seems to have retained its pastoral habits even to the end. The descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (Num. xxxii. 1) probably tended their large flocks and herds on the eastern border of Goshen, but others settled in the cities and villages on the confines of the land of Goshen, and not only adopted more generally agricultural pursuits (Deut. xi. 10), but became acquainted with many useful arts, with writing, the working of precious and common metals, the grinding and engraving of precious stones, with carpentry, byssus-weaving, and pottery (1 Chr. iv. 14, 21, 23), with fishing, gardening (Num. xi. 5), and artificial irrigation (Deut. xi. 10)52. On the other hand, they could not fail to become acquainted with forms of religious worship hitherto utterly unknown to them. Now, for the first time, could they witness the gorgeous and mysterious ceremonies that attended the worship of Ra, the “Sun-God,” or of Isis and Osiris. Now, for the first time, they might behold the incense burnt three times every day53, and the solemn sacrifice offered once a month to the sacred black calf Mnevis at On (Heliopolis), or to his rival the bull Apis at Memphis. Now they saw, as they could scarcely have seen elsewhere, the adoration of the creature rather than the Creator carried to its furthest point, and divine honours paid not only to the mighty Pharaoh, the Child, the representative of the Sun-God, but to almost everything in the heaven above, and the earth beneath, and the waters under the earth, to the crocodile and the hawk, the cat and the dog, the hippopotamus and the serpent. That the simple patriarchal faith of the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob would suffer from contact with such diverse forms of idolatry might naturally be expected. The worship of the sacred calf exercised over them a peculiar fascination. Your fathers worshipped other gods in Egypt, says Joshua afterwards (Josh. xxiv. 14), they forsook not the idols of Egypt, is the accusation of Ezekiel (Ezek. xx. 7, 8; xxiii. 3).

But an important event exercised a still greater influence on their social and religious condition. A change took place in the reigning dynasty. There arose a new king over Egypt (Ex. i. 8; Acts vii. 18) that knew not Joseph, who regarded with no friendly feelings the strange community with alien rites and traditions, settled on the eastern outskirts of his realm. He viewed with alarm their rapid increase, and dreaded lest, in the event of a war, instead of guarding his kingdom against, they might join the enemies of Egypt, the roving tribes of the East, “the terror of the inhabitants of the Nile valley,” and fight against his own people, and effect their escape from the land. Accordingly he determined to reduce them to the condition of public serfs or slaves; and in order to crush their free and independent spirit, set taskmasters over them, and employed them in gigantic works, making bricks for his treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. Day after day, therefore, their lives were made bitter with hard bondage, while beneath a burning rainless sky, naked and in gangs, they toiled under the lash in the quarry or the brick-field. But this expedient did not produce the effects the monarch desired. The more they were afflicted, the more this strange people grew and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty. Thereupon instructions were given to the Hebrew midwives to destroy in some secret way every Hebrew man-child. And when this too proved ineffectual, from the unwillingness of the midwives to obey so cruel a decree, an order was issued that every Hebrew boy should be flung into the waters of the Nile. What Abraham had seen in mystic vision was now fulfilled (Gen. xv. 12); a horror of great darkness had settled upon his descendants; strangers in a strange land, they were suffering grievous affliction, they sighed by reason of their bondage, and their cry came up unto God (Ex. ii. 23).

But it was at this juncture, when every thing seemed at the worst, that the future Deliverer of Israel was born. Amram, a man of the house of Levi, married Jochebed, a woman of the same tribe, and became the father of a daughter Miriam, a son Aaron, and a boy remarkable from his childhood for peculiar beauty (Ex. ii. 2; Acts vii. 20). For three months his mother succeeded in eluding the vigilance of Pharaoh’s inquisitors, and concealing her child. But at the close of that period, finding further concealment impossible, she constructed an ark or boat of papyrus stalks, and having protected it with pitch or bitumen, placed the child therein among the reeds of the Nile. There the mother left it, but Miriam the sister stood afar off to watch her brother’s fate. As the ark floated with the stream, the daughter of Pharaoh, attended by her maidens, came down to bathe in the waters of the sacred river, and as she walked by the bank, her eye lit upon the basket, and she sent one of her attendants to fetch it. It was brought, and when opened, behold! the babe wept. Struck with compassion the Egyptian princess, though she perceived it was one of the Hebrews’ children, determined to rear it for her own. At this moment Miriam approached, and asked permission to call a nurse for the child. Permission was given, and Jochebed once more saw her boy restored to her, with the command to rear it for its preserver. The child grew, and after a while was brought to the Princess, and she, in memory of its preservation, named it Moses, or in its Egyptian form Mo-she, from Mo, “water,” and Ushe, “saved” (Ex. ii. 10).

The Foundling of the Nile was now formally brought up as the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and, in conformity with his high position, received a suitable education. He became learned, St Stephen tells us (Acts vii. 22), in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; in all therefore, we may believe, that the science of that day could teach him of arithmetic, writing, astronomy, medicine, and sacred symbolism. On the same authority we further learn that Moses became mighty not only in words, but also in deeds (Acts vii. 22). What these deeds were is not known54, but it is certain that the Hebrew youth was in a position to have achieved a splendid career. He might have enjoyed to the full the pleasures of the Egyptian court (Heb. xi. 25), and amassed much of its accumulated treasures. But the traditions, the hopes, the creed of his own nation had not, we may believe, been concealed from him by his mother. Hence when he came to the age of forty, chancing to go forth from On or Memphis to the land of Goshen, he beheld one of his countrymen not only toiling amidst the shadeless brick-fields, but suffering the bastinado from his Egyptian taskmaster. Filled with indignation Moses looked this way and that way, and seeing no one by, slew the Egyptian, and hid the corpse in the white sand of the desert. The next day, seeing two of the Hebrews quarrelling, he tried to act as arbiter between them. His good offices, however, were not only rejected by the one he decided to be in the wrong, but he discovered that the murder of the Egyptian was no secret. He imagined that his countrymen would have recognised in him a Deliverer sent from the God of their fathers, but they did not. Before long, news of the murder reached the ears of Pharaoh, and Moses perceiving that his life was no longer safe fled from Goshen in a south-easterly direction to the land of Midian, or the peninsula of Sinai in Arabia, peopled by the descendants of Abraham by Keturah (Gen. xxv. 2).

He was sitting on a well in Midian, when he perceived the approach of the seven daughters of Jethro55, the chief and priest of that country, to draw water for their flocks. They were in the act of filling the troughs, when certain Arabian shepherds rudely tried to drive them away. Thereupon, with the same zeal he had shown in behalf of his own countrymen, Moses intervened, and defended the maidens against the intruders. Their unusually early return prompted the enquiries of their father, and led to his introduction to the chivalrous stranger. Moses was contented to dwell with the Midianitish chief, and kept his flocks, and afterward married his daughter Zipporah, by whom he became the father of two sons, Gershom (stranger) and Eliezer (God is my help). And here amidst “the granite precipices and silent valleys of Horeb,” in quiet and seclusion, forty years of his life passed away (Acts vii. 30). Here, as nowhere else, he could commune alone with God, and know himself, and learn the lessons of patience and self-control, and dependence on the Unseen, while the daily duties of his shepherd life made him acquainted with every path and track and fountain in a region, which he was afterwards to revisit under such different circumstances.

Meanwhile, though there was a change of ruler, the lot of the Israelites experienced no alteration. Still they toiled in cruel bondage, still their cry went up to the God of their fathers. At length the time drew near when the Promise made to Abraham was to be fulfilled, the oppressing nation judged, and the people delivered (Gen. xv. 14). One day Moses was leading the flocks of Jethro some distance from the spots, where he seems to have usually tended them, to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb, when a marvellous sight arrested his attention. He looked, and behold! before him burning with fire was a bush of wild acacia56, “the shaggy thorn-bush of the desert.” But though enveloped in flames, it was not consumed! It remained unsinged and uninjured by the fiery element which played around it! Astonished at the prodigy, Moses determined to draw near and ascertain the cause of this great sight, and as he approached, lo! a Voice, the Voice of God, called unto him out of the midst of the bush, saying, Moses, Moses! The awe-struck shepherd answered the Voice, and then was directed to draw not nearer, but take his shoes from off his feet, for the place on which he stood was holy ground. Moses complied, and hiding his face, for he dared not look upon God, listened, while the Lord spake again, assuring him that He was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob; He had not been unmindful of the sufferings of His people in Egypt; He had seen their affliction; He had heard their cry; He had come down to deliver them from their oppressors, and to bring them up into a land flowing with milk and honey, and He had appointed no other than Moses himself to be their Deliverer, and bring them forth from the land of Egypt. Filled with awe and misgiving, Moses at first sought in every way to excuse himself from the tremendous commission. Who am I, said he, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? I will be with thee, was the reply. But who was this I? When Moses went to the children of Israel, and assured them of the commission he had received, what was the Name he was to announce to them as his authority? Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, replied the Almighty, I AM—Jehovah, the Eternal, the Self-existent—hath sent me unto you (Ex. iii. 14).

But this did not satisfy Moses. What outward and visible assurance could he give the people of his divine mission? This difficulty was also met. The Lord invested him with a threefold miraculous power, whereby to attest his authority, alike before the people and before Pharaoh. First, he should cast his staff, his shepherd’s crook, upon the ground, and it would become a serpent, and on taking the creature by the tail it would resume its former state. Then he should put his hand into his bosom, and it would become leprous, but on returning it to his bosom would become as his other flesh. Thirdly, if they believed neither the first nor the second sign, he was to take of the water of the Sacred Nile, and pour it upon the dry land, and it should become blood. But now Moses pleaded another obstacle. He was not eloquent, he was of a slow speech, and a slow tongue; no words had he wherewith to bend the awful Pharaoh on his throne. Who hath made man’s mouth? was the reply; Who maketh the dumb, the deaf, the blind? Have not I the Lord? Go, and I will be with thy mouth, I will teach thee what thou shalt say. Still Moses made another effort to roll off from himself the awful responsibility of the commission. O my Lord, he cried, send, I pray Thee, by the hand Thou shouldest send. This last proof of distrust provoked even the Lord to anger, but it was the anger of Love, the Love that remembers mercy and sustains the weak. The Lord had already provided a spokesman. Aaron his brother was at this moment on his way to meet him, and he was known to be able to speak well. Together, like the Apostles afterwards, the Brothers should go in before Pharaoh; Aaron should be instead of a mouth, and Moses should be to him instead of God, and with his rod he should perform the prescribed signs. Then, at last, his timidity was removed; he consented to go, and the object of the Vision of the Burning Bush was thus far attained (Ex. iv. 1–17).

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CHAPTER II.

SIGNS AND WONDERS IN EGYPT.
Exod. iv.–xi.   B.C. 1491.

THE first step Moses took towards fulfilling the trust thus confided to him was to request of his father-in-law permission to revisit his brethren in Egypt. Jethro gave his consent, and then, having received the Divine assurance that all the men were dead which sought his life, accompanied by Zipporah and her two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, Moses commenced his return to Egypt57. He had not proceeded far before he encountered his brother Aaron coming forth to meet him, to whom he explained their commission, and the signs that were to attest it. On arriving in the land of Goshen the Brothers gathered together all the clans of the nation. Aaron, as spokesman, rehearsed the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. His announcement had the desired effect. The Israelites believed that the Lord God of their fathers had indeed interposed in their behalf, and bowed their heads and worshipped. The next step was to procure from Pharaoh the necessary permission for the departure of the people. But now, even as the Almighty had forewarned them, the difficulties of the Brothers commenced. On presenting themselves before Pharaoh, and informing him of the will of Jehovah, the God of Israel, that His people should be permitted to go three days’ journey into the wilderness, there to offer sacrifice unto Him (Ex. v. 3), the monarch haughtily asked, Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His Voice to let Israel go? Conceiving the God of Israel to be merely a national god, it seemed to him inexplicable that One who had suffered His worshippers to endure a lengthened and degrading bondage, could demand of him, the mightiest monarch of the earth, to let His people depart. Concluding, therefore, that it was only an expedient to excite aspirations for freedom among the bondslaves, in contemptuous mockery of them and their God, he ordered that the severity of their toil should be doubled. Hitherto straw had been found them, wherewith to make bricks for the treasure-cities and other gigantic works then in progress; but now it was ordered that they must go and gather straw for themselves, and yet the tale of bricks must not be diminished; what it was before, that it was to remain, and to be completed also. To comply with this tyrannical command was impossible, and the Israelitish officers, who had been set over the people by the Egyptians were beaten, and their complaints to Pharaoh were utterly disregarded. This produced a great change of feeling towards Moses and Aaron, at whose announcement of speedy deliverance the people had so lately bowed the head and worshipped. They heaped reproaches upon them, and openly charged them with being the cause of their now accumulated miseries, of having made their savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh (Ex. v. 1–21).

Thus the first attempt of Moses to execute his commission ended in complete failure. In deep dejection he laid before Jehovah the ineffectual issue of his efforts, and in reply not only received a second assurance of protection and ultimate triumph, but was told that as Pharaoh had rejected the word of God, God would now speak to him in deeds, and multiply His signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, till the Egyptians knew that He was the Lord. But the contest, in which Moses was now to engage, was not to be fought with carnal weapons. As the accredited servant of Jehovah, he was to contend against the gods of Egypt, against those arts, the very lifeblood of heathenism, in which Egypt deemed itself so strong, its magic and necromancy, its priests and conjurers. Accordingly the Brothers went a second time into Pharaoh’s presence, and renewed their request. The monarch demanded a miracle in attestation of their claim. Thereupon Aaron threw down his rod before the king and his courtiers, and straightway it became a serpent. But snake-charming was an art in which Egypt bore off the palm from every other country of the world. Pharaoh, therefore, summoned his magicians58, who cast down their rods, and they likewise became serpents. But though Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods, the monarch would not acknowledge that his servants had been defeated; he hardened his heart, and refused to recognise in this miracle an authoritative warning to let the people go. The “signs,” therefore, were now to become Plagues (Ex. vii. 8–14).

(i) Accordingly, on the morrow, at the command of God, Moses made his appearance before Pharaoh, just as he was going to offer sacrifice to, or perform his religious ablutions in the sacred waters of the Nile, the “Father of Life,” the “Father of the Gods59,” as it was called by the Egyptians. In words few but decisive he announced the reason of his coming, and then the word was given; Aaron lifted up his rod, and in a moment, before the very eyes of the monarch and all his servants, the waters of the sacred, fructifying river, not only in the stream itself, but in the “canals and tanks, in the vessels of wood and vessels of stone, then, as now, used for the filtration of the water from the sediment of the river bed,” were turned into blood. The fish, though similarly objects of religious reverence, died in incredible numbers, and the “Father of Waters,” the source of health and blessing, stank, nor could the Egyptians drink thereof, for there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. But again the magicians were summoned; with their enchantments, they caused other water, probably obtained by digging about the river, to assume the same blood-red appearance, and Pharaoh turned into his house, and hardened his heart, neither would he let the people go (Ex. vii. 14–25).

(ii) After an interval, therefore, of seven days, Moses and Aaron again presented themselves before him, and when their request was again denied, inflicted the second plague. From the streams, the rivers, the ponds of Egypt, Frogs60 came up over the whole land, penetrating into the royal palace, the houses of the courtiers and of the people, defiling bed-chamber and bed, oven and kneading-trough, with their loathsome touch. Again the magicians were summoned, and though they were utterly unable to counteract, they succeeded in imitating this plague also. Pharaoh was more deeply moved than before; he not only condescended to beg of Moses and Aaron that they would intreat Jehovah to remove this plague from his people, but undertook to allow the Israelites to depart and do sacrifice to the Lord. But no sooner had the desired deliverance been vouchsafed, than he again hardened his heart and refused to fulfil his word (Ex. viii. 1–15).

(iii) For the third time, therefore, Aaron uplifted his rod, and now, not from the “Father of Waters,” but from the fertile soil of Egypt itself, came forth innumerable swarms either of Lice or of Gnats61, which afflicted both man and beast with intolerable discomfort. This plague all the spells and incantations of the court magicians were unable to imitate, and they were fain to confess to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God, but he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them (Ex. viii. 16–19).

(iv) On the morning after, as he went forth to the waters of the river, which he had lately seen so grievously dishonoured, he was met by Moses, and refused for the fourth time to relieve the people of their bondage. On this the servant of Jehovah spake the word, and there came innumerable Flies of various kinds62, usually a fearful torment in Egypt, but now attacking with unwonted fury both man and beast, and swarming in every house of the Egyptians, while they touched neither house nor person of the Israelites in Goshen. Such was the intolerable severity of this plague that Pharaoh so far relented as to permit the people to sacrifice to Jehovah in the land itself, but with the proviso that they should not leave it. This Moses would not concede. Therefore the monarch extended his concession to a journey some little way into the wilderness, but on the removal of the judgment revoked it, and retained the nation in bondage (Ex. viii. 20–32).

(v) The fifth Plague was now inflicted. A grievous Murrain broke out amongst the horses, the asses, the camels, the oxen, the sheep of the Egyptians, so that all the cattle of Egypt, including not only the useful beasts, but probably “the sacred goat of Mendes, the ram of Ammon, the calf of Heliopolis, the bull Apis63,” died, while in the land of Goshen, as Pharaoh himself ascertained, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. But even this had no effect on his proud heart (Ex. ix. 1–7).

(vi) Accordingly Moses and Aaron were commanded to take handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and sprinkle them upwards towards heaven, and on their so doing, Boils and Blisters, and other eruptive disorders, broke forth upon man and upon beast. Even the royal magicians suffered so terribly from this the sixth plague, that they could not stand before Moses, but the heart of their master was still hardened, nor would he yield to the will of God (Ex. ix. 8–12).

(vii) With still greater solemnity, therefore, the coming of the Seventh Plague was announced to him, and he was warned to send his servants and gather together such of his cattle as were grazing in the fields, if he would not have them utterly destroyed by a terrible Storm of thunder, lightning, and hail64. By some, who heard the warning, it was heeded in time, by others it was utterly disregarded. But it was too surely fulfilled. Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven, and on the fair garden of Egypt, with its green meadows and fields of corn and barley and maize, the storm burst forth with unwonted fury. The Lord thundered out of heaven, and the Highest gave His thunder (Ps. xviii. 13). The fire ran along upon the ground, the hail rattled, and smote the vines and fig-trees (Ps. cv. 33), and every herb of the field, and every tree of the field, the barley then in the ear, and the flax then bolled or risen in the stalk, as also the cattle and herdmen that had not been removed to any place of shelter. Alarmed beyond measure at this unexampled tempest, Pharaoh begged Moses to intercede for him, owned this time that he had sinned, that the Lord was righteous, that he and his people were wicked, and promised to do all that was required of him. But, as before, when the fury of the elements was hushed he refused to abide by his word (Ex. ix. 13–35).

(viii) And now for the eighth time the release of the people was demanded, and the monarch was told that, in the event of refusal, the country, already grievously devastated, should be given up to the awful ravages of the Locusts, which, in numbers, such as neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers had seen, should swarm in the palace and the hut, covering the face of the ground, and eating up whatever herb or tree had escaped the fury of the late storm. This announcement filled the Egyptians, already suffering severely, with uttermost alarm. Let the people go, they cried to their king, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? Even Pharaoh was fain to lend an ear to this remonstrance. Summoning Moses and Aaron, he informed them that he was ready to allow such as were men amongst the Israelites to depart and serve their God, but their wives and children must remain as a guarantee for their return. The servants, however, of Jehovah, were not empowered to make this concession, and the plague began. A strong east wind blew continuously and brought the locusts, which in dense swarms covered the face of the land, so that it was darkened and became a desolate wilderness, without a leaf upon the trees or a blade of grass in the fields65. The obduracy of the monarch now broke down, and was followed by a brief repentance, which lasted no longer than the west wind which swept away the locusts; for once more, in the face of an utterly devastated country and a murmuring people, he refused to hearken to the word of the Lord (Ex. x. 1–20).

(ix) Without the pre-announcements, therefore, which had preceded the infliction of the other plagues, the ninth now appeared in the shape of Darkness66 so dense that it might be felt, which for three days enveloped the entire land, save only the favoured country of Goshen. During this period the light of the sun was obscured, an awful and preternatural gloom shrouded the land, so that the Egyptians neither could see one another nor rise from their place. At the end of the three days Pharaoh once more capitulated; all the Israelites, young and old, might depart, the flocks and herds alone must remain. These conditions, however, were rejected by Moses, and he was dismissed from the palace with the warning to take heed that he saw the face of Pharaoh no more, for on the day that he saw his face, he should surely die (Ex. x. 21–29).

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CHAPTER IV.

THE JOURNEY FROM THE RED SEA TO REPHIDIM.
Exod. xv.–xix.   B.C. 1491.

AND now the ransomed people commenced their journey. Skirting the eastern shore of the Red Sea, they “entered” the wilderness of Shur (or Etham, Num. xxxiii. 8), on the western base of the high table-land which forms the northern portion of the peninsula of Sinai68. A three days’ march brought them to a well, probably Ain Howâra, plentifully supplied, indeed, with water, but so bitter that they could not drink of it, whence they called it Marah (“bitterness”). This was the first test of their faith in their Invisible Leader, and they proved unequal to it. They murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? In his distress Moses turned to the Lord, who bade him cast a tree into the waters, and they were straightway sweetened. Leaving Marah they reached Elim (Wâdy Ghurundel, or Wâdy Useit), where were twelve wells of refreshing water, and three-score and ten palmtrees. Here they probably staid some days, and then passing between vast cliffs, probably at the mouth of the Wâdy Tayibeh, again came in sight of the deep blue waters of the Red Sea (Num. xxxiii. 10), where they encamped, and were able for the last time to discern the shadowy line of Egypt, the land of bondage. Leaving the sea-shore on the fifteenth day of the second month, they entered the shadeless desert of Sin (Ex. xvi. 1). By this time the supply of bread they had brought with them from Egypt was consumed, and the people burst forth into loud murmurings against Moses and Aaron. Would God, they cried, we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, and did eat bread to the full. Thereupon Moses was commissioned to assure them of speedy relief, and that very evening dense flocks of quails, immense numbers of which are found in Arabia Petræa and the adjoining countries, covered the ground around their encampment (Ex. xvi. 13). Moreover the next morning, when the dew had gone up, behold! there lay on the face of the wilderness a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost, white, like coriander seed, the taste of which was like wafers made with honey. On seeing this curious substance, and not knowing its origin or properties, the Israelites exclaimed Man-hu, “What is it?” whence the substance hitherto unknown received the name of Manna (Ex. xvi. 14–36).

Two conditions were annexed to the enjoyment of this extraordinary and unlooked-for blessing. The people were instructed to gather only a sufficient quantity for the wants of a single day, an omer (about five pints) each man, and they were to leave none of it until the morning. Some of them, however, infringed both these conditions, and in both instances found cause to regret their conduct. Some took the trouble to gather more than the prescribed quantity, and found that in spite of their exertions he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack. Others did leave some of it until the morning, but they too found themselves disappointed, for it was in a state of decomposition and utterly unfit for food. On the sixth day, however, each man was surprised to find himself able to gather twice the usual quantity. This circumstance Moses explained to them. The seventh day was to be observed as a holy Sabbath (rest) unto the Lord, on that day no manna would be found lying on the ground, but on the sixth day they were to gather twice the usual quantity to make provision for the deficiency on the Sabbath. This command, however, was not universally obeyed. Some went out to gather on the Sabbath, but returned empty-handed. Thus the institution of the Day of Rest was presented as one of peculiar significance, and a preparation was made for the more precise legislation respecting it to be afterwards promulgated. In memory of this miraculous supply of the people’s needs, Moses directed that an omer of the Manna should be put aside in a vessel as a memorial to all future generations (Ex. xvi. 32–34; John vi. 31, 32; 1 Cor. x. 3; Heb. ix. 4).

After a halt of a week in the wilderness of Sin, and also at two intermediate stations, Dophkah and Alush (Num. xxxiii. 12–14), the positions of which are unknown, the Israelites reached Rephidim (“places of Rest”), most probably the Wâdy Feirân, and “the finest valley in the whole peninsula.” Two circumstances distinguished their encampment in this valley. In consequence of a second failure of water the murmurings of the people against their leader reached such a pitch, that they showed signs of a readiness even to stone him with stones. Again, however, the Lord interposed, and mercifully directed Moses to strike a rock in Horeb, i.e. one of the outer hills in the Sinaitic group, whereupon a copious stream flowed forth, and refreshed the thirsty host. In memory of the murmuring of the people, Moses named the spot Massah (“temptation”), and Meribah (“strife”) (Ex. xvii. 7).

The other circumstance which rendered memorable the encampment at this spot was of a different nature. One of the main streams of population occupying at this time the Sinaitic Peninsula, was the powerful tribe of Amalek. Their settlements extended from the northern part of the peninsula, even to the borders of Palestine. They were descended from Esau, and were governed by a chief, who bore the title, by some deemed hereditary, of Agag, the “Burner” or “Destroyer.” (Comp. Num. xxiv. 7; 1 Sam. xv. 8, 9.) Regarding the encampment of the Israelites in the rich and fertile valley of Rephidim with no friendly feelings, they mustered their forces, and treacherously falling upon their exhausted rear, smote the hindmost of them and the feeble amongst them, when they were faint and weary (Deut. xxv. 17–19). To repel this attack Moses directed a young man, whose name is here for the first time mentioned, Joshua, or as he was now called Hoshea (salvation), the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, to select a body of men, and go forth to meet Amalek in the valley. Meanwhile he himself ascended the hill, whence, probably, the refreshing streams had issued, with the rod of God in his hand, and accompanied by Aaron and Hur. There within sight of the battle in the valley below, he stood and stretched forth his hands in supplication to heaven. So long as his hands remained thus uplifted, the Israelites made good their superiority over the foe, but as often as from weariness his hands drooped Amalek prevailed. For a long time the contest seemed undecided. At length Aaron and Hur, seeing Moses wearied with his exertions, took a stone and placed it under him, and stayed up his hands in the attitude of supplication, till the sun went down, by which time Amalek had sustained a total defeat, and been smitten with the edge of the sword. This victory and the circumstances leading to it were too important to be forgotten. On the summit of the hill, where he had stood in the attitude of prayer, Moses erected an altar, which he called Jehovah-Nissi (the Lord is my Banner), and, by the Divine direction, inscribed in a book the account of Amalek’s attack, and rehearsed it in the ears of Joshua. Their treacherous conduct had placed them under the same ban as the nations of Canaan, and the Lord would utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven (Ex. xvii. 14; 1 Sam. xv. 2, 3; 2 Sam. viii. 12).

Not long afterwards, Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, having heard all that the Lord had done for his kinsman, and of the wonderful deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, left his tents among the Midianites and came to meet him, with his daughter Zipporah, and her two sons Gershom and Eliezer. After mutual salutation, the two passed into the tent, and Moses recounted to his father-in-law the marvels of the Exodus, the travail of the people by the way, and their late deliverance from the sword of Amalek. Jethro rejoiced at the recital, bestowed upon the Israelites his solemn blessing, and offered sacrifices to Jehovah, to which and the thanksgiving-feast that followed, Aaron the future high-priest, and all the elders of Israel were invited. On the morrow, perceiving Moses occupied from morning until evening with the administration of justice and the settlement of disputes among the people, Jethro ventured to remonstrate with him on the risk he incurred by undertaking unaided so heavy a burden. He suggested that judges, rulers, and elders, able men, such as feared God, and hated covetousness, should be appointed, who should at stated seasons see justice done between man and man, and reserve only the weightier matters for the attention of Moses himself. His wise advice was adopted, and men were duly appointed to preside over every ten, every fifty, every hundred, and every thousand of the people, and thus equalize the burden hitherto sustained by Moses alone (Ex. xviii. 1–27).

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CHAPTER V.

SINAI AND THE GIVING OF THE LAW.
Exod. xix. xx.   B.C. 1491.

AT length the halt at Rephidim came to an end. In the third month (Ex. xix. 1), the Israelites once more set out in a southerly direction, and after ascending winding valleys and rugged passes and staircases of lofty rocks rising one above the other in long succession, reached a level plain (probably Er-Raheh)69, in front of which “towered the massive cliffs of Sinai,” rising “like a huge altar in front of the whole congregation.” Here in a spot where they could find water and pasture for their flocks and herds, they pitched their tents before the Mount (Ex. xix. 2). The natural aspect of everything around them was of a character calculated to exert a most solemnising influence upon their feelings. They had reached a kind of “natural sanctuary, not made with hands,” which for magnificence and grandeur far exceeded any of those massive Egyptian temples, on which their eyes had rested by the green valley of the Nile. Far removed from the stir and confusion of earthly things70, amidst a scene of desolate grandeur and a silence unbroken even by the sound of waters or the trickling of rills down the mountain gorges71, they experienced everything that the natural influence of scenery and association could effect towards fitting their minds for the great and sublime transactions now about to be enacted between them and the Almighty. They were about to receive direct communication from the Lord of all the earth, and to learn why with an outstretched arm, and signs and great wonders, they had been delivered from the bondage of Egypt, and thus led forth into the wilderness.

By way of preparation for the great scene, Moses left the congregation encamped on the plain, and proceeded up the winding steep ascent of Sinai. On reaching the summit, the Lord called unto him, and made known His intention of renewing the patriarchal Covenant, which, though it might seem to have been forgotten during the weary years of bondage in Egypt, had never been disannulled (Gal. iii. 17), and was now to be solemnly republished. Like all Covenants, it contained a stipulation and a promise. If Israel would obey the Voice of Him, who had delivered them from Egypt, and borne them on eagles’ wings, and brought them to Himself (Ex. xix. 4), if they would submit themselves to His laws, and keep His commandments, then, though all the earth was His, yet should they be a peculiar treasure unto Him above all people. Jehovah “would enter into a special relation towards them, He would undertake the duties and claim the privileges of sovereignty,” while they should be unto Him a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. It was not a single and peculiar order that was to be elevated to the high position of a member of the priest-kingdom, as was the case in Egypt. Every Israelite was to sustain this relation, and in the midst of a world given up to idolatry, was called to preserve the knowledge of the one true God, and exhibit to the nations the spectacle of a people walking in the ways of Holiness, Righteousness, and Truth. The conditions of this Covenant Moses made known to the Elders and people of Israel; he laid before them all the words which the Lord commanded Him, and when they had voluntarily agreed to obey them, he returned with their reply to the Lord, and was told of the intention of Jehovah to come unto him in a thick cloud, that the people might hear him, and believe him for ever (Ex. xix. 9).

Three days, therefore, were now devoted to preparatory and ceremonial ablutions, during which the people were commanded to abstain from all sensual and worldly enjoyments. Then bounds were set round the mountain on which a God of Holiness was about to appear, lest any of the people should ascend or even touch it. Of any infringement of this prohibition death was denounced as the certain penalty, and that not inflicted in the usual way, lest the executioners should themselves be polluted, but from a distance with stones and arrows (Ex. xix. 12, 13; Heb. xii. 20). At length the morning of the third day dawned, and the awful silence of the mountain-sanctuary was broken by peals of thunder, which echoed and re-echoed amidst the rocky gorges, while flashes of lightning lit up the peaks of Sinai, and revealed by their contrast the pitchy darkness and the thick cloud which had settled upon the mountain-top. Presently the Voice as of a Trumpet (comp. Rev. i. 10, iv. 1), sounded exceeding loud, audible even above the crash of the thunder, so that every soul in the camp trembled. This was the signal God had made known to Moses, who straightway led forth the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the nether part of the mount, which appeared altogether on a smoke, like the smoke of a furnace, enshrouding a mysterious flame in which the Lord descended (Ex. xix. 18). Again the Trumpet pealed with a long-continued blast, and waxed louder and louder, and Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice, summoning him to meet Him on the top of Sinai. Arrived there, he was commanded again to warn the people, and even the priests, against drawing too near, or breaking through the bounds that had been set about the mount for the purpose of indulging any profane gaze, and so incurring the inevitable penalty of death (Ex. xix. 21). Moses therefore returned to the awestruck crowd on the plain below, and renewed the solemn warning. Then from out of the midst of the fire, and the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a great voice (Deut. v. 22), Jehovah Himself spake to the assembled host face to face, and proclaimed the Ten fundamental Words of the law of the Covenant. Not as the Lord of the universe, or the Creator of all things, did the Most High now reveal Himself to the people, but as their Redeemer, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and from the house of bondage (Ex. xx. 2). (I) Beside Him, therefore, they were to have no other god; (II) of Him they were to make no representation, or construct any graven image, or any likeness in the form of anything either in the heaven above or the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth; (III) for His Name they were to entertain the deepest reverence, nor profane it by taking it in vain; (IV) His Day, the seventh Day, the Day of rest, they were ever to observe; six days they might labour, and do all their work, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord their God, no work might be done by the head of the family, or his son, or his daughter, his manservant, or his maidservant, his cattle, or the stranger sojourning within his gates. Such was the duty of the Israelite towards God. But now also the Almighty proclaimed man’s duty towards his neighbour. He enjoined and connected with a special promise of temporal prosperity (V) filial Reverence for Parents, and forbade (VI) Murder, (VII) Adultery, (VIII) Theft, (IX) False Witness, and (X) Covetousness (Ex. xx. 1–17).

These were the Ten Words, the fundamentals of the Divine Law, under which the Israelites were henceforth called to live, and which they were to accept as the charter of their constitution. But so great was their terror, when they heard God thus speaking to them face to face, that they fled, and standing afar off implored Moses to intercede with the Almighty that they might no more hear His voice, lest they should die. Go thou near, said they, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and we will hear it and do it (Deut. v. 27). Their request found favour in the sight of Jehovah, and Moses was now solemnly appointed as the Mediator between the Israelites and God. At the same time, the Lord intimated that He would raise up a still greater Prophet than Moses, from the midst of the Israelites, yet like unto him, that He would put His words in His mouth, and He should speak unto them all that He commanded (Deut. xviii. 13–19). Accordingly in his capacity of Mediator, Moses now returned up the mountain, and ascended into the thick darkness that still abode upon it for the purpose of receiving the further commands of Jehovah. After remaining there for some time, he came back to the people. They had on their part already agreed to enter into covenant with God. But it was necessary that this Covenant should now be solemnly ratified by them, its provisions read in their hearing, and formally accepted as the basis of their constitution. Accordingly Moses first wrote all the words that Jehovah had spoken in a book, probably a papyrus-roll, and then, having built an altar at the foot of the mount and set up twelve pillars, he caused calves and goats to be slain as burnt-offerings and peace-offerings by the hands of certain selected youths. In the ears of the assembled people he next read every word of the Law, and when these conditions of the Covenant had been formally accepted by them, he took the blood of the victims already slain, together with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop (Heb. ix. 19–21), sprinkled one half of the blood on the altar, and the roll containing the Covenant-conditions, and the other half on the people, saying as he did so, Behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.

But one portion only of the ceremony was complete. The victims had yielded up their life. The blood, the source of life, had been sprinkled on the altar and accepted by Jehovah. It was now necessary that the sacrificers should join in the Covenant-feast. To celebrate this, Moses, accompanied by Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders, as representatives of the people, ascended to a level spot near the summit of Sinai. There they saw the glory of the God of Israel, under whose feet there was, as it were, a paved work of a sapphire-stone, and the body of heaven in its clearness. But instead of suffering any harm from such close proximity to the majesty of the Supreme, they ate and drank in His presence of the Covenant-feast, and thereby were assured of His mercy and loving-kindness (Ex. xxiv. 9–11).

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CHAPTER I.

THE TABERNACLE.
Exod. xxxvi.–xl.   B.C. 1490.

THE encampment of the Israelites before Sinai continued for more than a year (Num. i. 1). At this point, then, it will be convenient to group together and consider the most important of those ordinances which they now received, and the chief features of the constitution under which they were called to live.

The purpose for which the Jewish nation was raised up was of the most momentous character. In the midst of surrounding idolatry and moral degeneracy, they were called to preserve intact the doctrine of the Unity of God, to be the guardians of His gracious promises of Redemption, and to exhibit to the world holiness (See Rom. ix. 4, 5).

The doctrine of the Divine Unity was the kernel of the Mosaic law, and as such was defended by the sternest and most rigorous enactments. The Israelites were forbidden even to mention the names of the gods of the Canaanite nations (Ex. xxiii. 13); they were commanded to burn or destroy their images, their altars, their sacred groves (Ex. xxiii. 24; xxxiv. 13); they were to deem accursed the precious metals of which their idols were composed (Deut. vii. 25), and on no pretence whatever were they to conclude any treaty or make any marriage with them (Deut. vii. 2, 3). Relapse into idolatry was to be regarded as the greatest crime, and whether committed by a city or an individual was to be punished with unrelenting severity. In the latter case, death by stoning was the inevitable penalty; in the former, all the inhabitants were to be put to the sword, the whole spoil was to be collected into a heap and burnt, and a solemn curse was to be pronounced against any one who attempted to rebuild it (Deut. xiii. 6–18). No less vigorous were the enactments against the construction of any representation of the true God under any form or similitude, whether of man or animal, of bird or fish or star.

But while all idolatrous forms of worship were thus rigorously forbidden, the Almighty condescended to make known to His people the way in which He was willing to receive their adoration. Stooping to the infirmities of a nation just delivered from degrading bondage, He took them by the hand, and provided for the wants of their religious nature in a way marvellously adapted to their native genius and character, as also to their previous habits and modes of thought.

And first, that the Israelites might have a visible assurance of the Divine presence in their midst, a sanctuary was to be erected, not according to any model suggested by the people themselves, but according to a Divine pattern shown to Moses in the Mount (Ex. xxv. 9; Heb. viii. 5). The Patriarchs had their pillars of stone (Gen. xxviii. 18, 19), or the shade of the consecrated grove (Gen. xxi. 33). The Egyptian had his huge colossal temples, built of vast granite blocks, or hewn out of the solid rock. Not such was to be the sanctuary of Jehovah amongst a people journeying through a wilderness to a Promised Land. As the nomad chief had his tent in the midst of his tribe, so Jehovah, as the Head of the Hebrew pilgrim-nation, ordained that a Tent or Tabernacle should be erected for Him, where He might meet and speak unto His people, and they might draw nigh to Him. I will sanctify, said God, the Tabernacle of meeting, ... there will I meet with ... and will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God, and they shall know that I am the Lord their God (Ex. xxix. 42–46; xxx. 6, 36).

In the erection of this Pavilion-Temple every member of the nation was invited to take a part, and to contribute either the gold and jewels of which the Egyptians had been spoiled, or the arts which, as we have seen, many of the Israelites had learnt from them. While, therefore, the superintendence of the work was entrusted to two skilful artificers, Bezaleel of the tribe of Judah, and Aholiab of the tribe of Dan (Ex. xxxi. 2, 6; xxxv. 34), many of the congregation contributed offerings of gold and silver and brass, of blue and red and crimson, of fine linen, and goat-skins, and ram-skins dyed red. Others were despatched in different directions throughout the fertile valley where they were encamped, to fell the Shittah or Acacia tree, which grew abundantly in the neighbourhood of Sinai, and was exactly adapted by its durability and lightness for the construction of a moveable tent, and while the workmen prepared it for its different purposes, the women employed themselves diligently in weaving and spinning blue and crimson hangings, thus consecrating the arts which they had learnt, while serving as bondslaves in the houses of the princes of Egypt (Ex. xxxv. 20–35).

(A) The Area, or Court, within which the Tabernacle stood, was an oblong square, 100 cubits74 in length by 50 in breadth, formed by curtains of fine linen 5 cubits in height, hanging from pillars of wood with capitals overlaid with silver and furnished with sockets of brass. These pillars, 20 on each longer side and 10 on each shorter, were held together by means of silver rods attached by silver hooks, and were fastened into the ground by means of pegs of brass. The entrance75 was from the east, so as to catch the rays of the rising sun. Here the curtains extended only 15 cubits from each corner, and the intervening space with its 4 pillars formed the entrance, and was overhung with curtains of fine twined linen, of the richest and most brilliant colours, blue and purple and scarlet.

In a line with the Entrance and the Tabernacle itself stood (a) The Altar of Burnt-sacrifice, and (b) The great Laver for purification.

(a) The Altar of Burnt-offering76 (called in Malachi i. 7, 12, the table of the Lord) was in form a square, 5 cubits long, 5 broad, and 3 high, and was constructed of hollow boards of acacia-wood overlaid with brass (Ex. xxvii. 4, 5). So long as the Tabernacle was stationed in any one place, these were probably filled with earth, which thus formed the upper side or surface, on which the sacrifices were offered. Each corner of the altar was furnished with horns of acacia-wood overlaid with brass; to these the victims were fastened, and on them their blood was sprinkled at the consecration of the priests, and the sacrifice of the sin-offering (Ps. cxviii. 27; Ex. xxix. 12; Levit. iv. 7, 18, 25). From each side projected a horizontal ledge, to the outer edge of which was attached a perpendicular grating of brass, resting like the Altar upon the ground, for the purpose of catching any portions of the sacrifice or the fuel that might fall. The ledge, on which the priests officiated, was approached by a slope of earth, for the Law forbade the construction of steps leading up to the altar (Ex. xx. 26). The implements used in the sacrifices, such as pans and shovels for collecting and removing the ashes, basins for receiving the blood, fleshhooks for turning the pieces of flesh, were all of brass (Ex. xxvii. 3; see 1 Sam. ii. 13, 14).

(b) The great Laver for purification stood between the Altar of Burnt-offering and the Tabernacle. It was made of the brass from the metal mirrors belonging to the women who served at the door of the Tabernacle (Ex. xxxviii. 8), and was probably of a circular form standing on a basis or foot. In it the flesh of the victims was washed, as also the hands and feet of the priests, before they performed any holy function (Ex. xxx. 18–21).

(B) The Tabernacle itself was entered, at its eastern side, through a magnificent curtain, 10 cubits in width, supported on five pillars (Ex. xxvi.). Its dimensions inside were 30 cubits in length, 10 in breadth, and 10 in height. It was formed of planks of acacia-wood overlaid with gold, fixed into the ground by means of two tenons, each fitting into a socket of silver, resembling the sharp end of a spear. At the top they were united by bars of acacia-wood, 5 bars to each piece, passing through golden rings. The roof was formed of several sets of curtains; the innermost, 10 in number, formed of fine twined linen of various colours, and adorned with cherubic figures of curious workmanship; next to these were 11 curtains of goats’ hair; then one of rams’ skins with the wool on dyed red; and lastly, another of badgers’, or, more probably, seals’ skins77.

The Tabernacle consisted of two portions, (a) The Holy Place, and (b) The Holy of Holies (Ex. xxvi. 33, 34: and comp. Heb. ix. 2, 3).

(a) The Holy Place, 20 cubits in length and 10 in height and width, was divided from the Holy of Holies by a veil of the most costly materials and the most splendid colours. Without any opening to admit the light from above, it was illumined only by a Golden Lamp or Candlestick, with seven lights, fed with pure olive oil, kept burning day and night, and trimmed each morning by a priest with golden snuffers, who carried away the snuff in golden dishes. From the base, on which the lamp rested, rose a shaft dividing itself on either side into three branches, so that it had seven arms, each adorned with calyxes of almond flowers, apples, and buds of pomegranates or lilies (Ex. xxv. 31; xxxvii. 17–25; Heb. ix. 2).

Opposite the Golden Lamp was the Table of Shewbread (Ex. xxv. 23–29), made of acacia-wood, overlaid with gold, 2 cubits in length, 1 in breadth, and 1½ in height, and standing on 4 feet. It had a border to prevent the loaves from falling off, and was furnished with rings and staves for removal. Belonging to it were cups or spoons for incense, bowls for wine, dishes for bringing and removing the loaves, all of gold. These loaves, called also bread of the face, being set before the face of the Lord (Levit. xxiv. 5–9), were twelve in number, according to the number of the tribes. Baked of the finest meal, flat and thin, they were placed every Sabbath on the Table in 2 rows, 6 in each, and sprinkled with incense, and accompanied with libations of wine in the golden bowls. Here they remained till the next Sabbath, when they were taken away and replaced by twelve fresh loaves, and eaten by the priests78 in the Holy Place, out of which they might not be carried, the frankincense having been burnt as an oblation on the Altar of Sacrifice.

Between the Table of Shewbread and the Golden Lamp and immediately before79 the veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was the Golden Altar of Incense (Ex. xxx. 1–11). Made of acacia-wood, in shape a square, 1 cubit in length and breadth and 2 in height, and ornamented round the middle with a golden wreath, it was furnished, like the Altar of Burnt-offering, with horns, rings, and staves; but unlike it was wholly overlaid with gold. On it incense, carefully prepared of four different ingredients (Ex. xxx. 34–38), was placed by the officiating priest morning and evening, with live coals taken from the Altar of Burnt-offering, that the smoke of the incense might perpetually ascend before the Lord. Once a year its horns were sprinkled with the blood of the sin-offering of the Atonement, and on no other occasion, except when a sin-offering was presented for the High-priest or the congregation.

(b) The Holy of Holies, separated, as we have just said, from the Holy Place by a costly veil supported on a screen of 4 pillars, formed a perfect cube of 10 cubits in length, breadth, and height. While the Holy Place, though never penetrated by the daylight, was illumined by the splendid Golden Lamp, the Holy of Holies was left in utter darkness, symbolical of Him whom no man hath seen, nor can see (1 Tim. vi. 16). Within this most sacred enclosure neither priests nor people as a body, but the High-Priest only, and that but once a year, ever entered. Here stood nothing but the Ark of the Covenant (Ex. xxv. 10–16). This was an oblong chest of acacia-wood overlaid with the purest gold within and without, 2½ cubits in length, 1½ in breadth, 1½ in height. It stood on 4 small feet, which were provided with 4 golden rings, through which staves of acacia-wood overlaid with gold were passed, and which when once inserted were never to be removed. Within it were placed80 the two stone tables, on both sides of which the Decalogue had been inscribed. Round the top ran a crown or wreath of pure gold, and upon it was the Mercy-Seat, of the same dimensions as the Ark, made not of wood overlaid with gold, but entirely of pure gold. At either end of the Mercy-Seat rose two golden Cherubim, with outspread wings and faces turned towards each other, and eyes bent downwards, as though desirous to look into its mysteries (1 Pet. i. 12). Neither their size nor their form are distinctly described. By some they are thought to have been handed down by patriarchal tradition from those which were placed in Paradise (Gen. iii. 24); by others to have resembled Egyptian models; while Josephus (Ant. III. vi. 5) declares that they resembled no figures known to men, and that in his day their form was utterly lost. In Ezekiel (i. 5–13) we find them likened to compound figures with the head of a man, an ox, a lion, and an eagle, with four wings, two serving for flight, two to cover the body, and straight feet inflexible at the knee. It is not improbable that they represented the manifold powers of nature—created life in its highest form—their overshadowing wings meeting as in perfect harmony, their eyes cast downwards towards the Divine Law, over which seemingly so rigid and unbending was the compassion of One forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin81.

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CHAPTER III.

THE SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS.
Ex. xxix. xxx.   Lev. i.–vi.   Num. xv.

THE rite of sacrifice so universal in the ancient world came down to the Israelites from the earliest times, from the days of their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the generations that lived before the Flood, and was regulated by Moses with the utmost precision.

One rule applied to all sacrifices. They could only be offered on the Great Brazen Altar of the Tabernacle. To offer them on high places, or spots selected by the caprice of the worshipper was expressly forbidden (Lev. xvii. 4; Deut. xii. 13, 14), though this rule appears to have been subsequently relaxed in the case of the prophets (1 Sam. xiii. 8–14; xvi. 1–5; 1 Kings xviii. 21–40).

Perhaps the simplest classification of sacrifices is that which arranges them under the heads of (I) Those offered without, and (II) Those offered with Blood.

I. Unbloody sacrifices will include (a) First-fruits and Tithes, (b) Meat- and Drink-offerings, (c) Incense.

(a) First-fruits and Tithes were presented by every Israelite to the priests in token of gratitude and humble thankfulness to Jehovah, and consisted of the produce of the land either in its natural state, as grain, fruit, grapes, wool, or prepared for human use, as meal, oil, new wine (Ex. xxiii. 19; Num. xviii. 12; Deut. xviii. 4). To the Levites also was paid the tenth part of all produce of the land and of cattle (Lev. xxvii. 30–33; Num. xviii. 21–24).

(b) Meat- and Drink-offerings generally accompanied each other. The Meat-offering was composed of fine flour seasoned with salt, and mingled with frankincense and oil, but without leaven. A portion of the flour and oil the priest placed upon the altar, together with all the frankincense, and there burnt them, the rest of the flour and oil becoming his own perquisite. Sometimes cakes of fine flour were offered with oil and salt, but without leaven or honey (Lev. ii. and vi. 14–23). A Drink-offering consisted of wine, which was poured at the foot of the altar; the quantity varying according to the victim, being for a lamb or kid a quarter of a hin (= 1 gallon, 2 pints); for a ram one-third, for a bullock one-half (Num. xv. 5, 7, 10; xxviii. 14). By these offerings, as by those of tithes and first-fruits, the Israelite acknowledged the undeserved bounty of Jehovah, and dedicated to Him the best of His gifts, flour the staff of life, wine the symbol of strengthening and refreshing, oil the symbol of richness. (Comp. Ps. civ. 15.)

The Meat-offering might be presented,

Either (1) by itself as a free-will offering, as in the instance of (i) the twelve unleavened cakes on the Table of Shew-bread, (ii) the sheaf of the first-fruits of barley on the second day of the Passover, (iii) the two wheaten loaves at Pentecost,

Or (2) together with the Burnt- and Thank-offering, but not with the Sin- or Trespass-offering; as (I) of public sacrifices, with (i) the daily morning and evening sacrifice, (ii) the Sabbath-offering, (iii) the offering at the new moon, (iv) on the great day of Atonement; (II) of private sacrifices, at (i) the consecration of priests and Levites, (ii) the cleansing of the leper, (iii) the termination of the Nazarite vow.

(c) Incense, the last example of an unbloody offering, accompanied every proper meat-offering, but was also offered daily on the golden altar in the Holy Place, and on the great day of Atonement was burnt in the Holy of Holies by the High-priest before the Ark. The greatest pains were taken in its preparation. It was compounded by the “art of the apothecary” of four ingredients beaten small86, stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense (Ex. xxx. 34–36), nor could any other kind be offered (Ex. xxx. 9). Desecration of this incense by using it for common purposes was to be punished with death (Ex. xxx. 38).

II. In reference to the second class of sacrifices, in which the life of a victim was taken and its blood poured upon the Altar, it is to be observed that these were limited to the herd, the flock, and all clean birds. All wild and unclean beasts were strictly excluded. The Israelite was to select only those animals which were most nearly connected with man, and of these, again, such as were most meek, innocent, pure, and valuable, such as oxen, sheep, goats, pigeons, and turtle-doves87. The selected victim was required to be perfect of its kind and without blemish, not less than eight days old, and usually a year. If it was blind, or broken, or maimed, or had any defect, as a wen or scab, it could not be offered (Lev. xxii. 20–27; Deut. xv. 21, 22; xvii. 1).

Such being the conditions respecting the victim, the offerer was required first to purify himself by ablutions, and then to bring the victim to the door of the Tabernacle, i.e. to the Great Brazen Altar of Burnt-offering in the court. There, whatever might be the precise kind of offering, he was to lay his hand on its head in token of surrender, dedication, and substitution, and then to slay it himself (Lev. i. 5). He had now performed his part, all the rest devolved upon the priest. He began by receiving the blood of the animal in a vessel, and then sprinkled it in different ways upon the Brazen Altar (Lev. iv. 6, 7, 25; v. 9), or, as we shall see, in some cases, on the Golden Altar of Incense, and, on one day in the year, on the Mercy-seat in the Holy of Holies. He then performed other ceremonies, which varied according to the nature of the sacrifice. But uniformly it was required (a) of the offerer, (i) to bring his victim to the altar, (ii) to lay his hand upon it, and (iii) to slay it; (b) of the priest, (i) to receive the blood in a vessel, and (ii) to sprinkle it upon the altar.

Of the bloody sacrifices the chief were (a) Burnt-offerings, (b) Peace-offerings, (c) Sin- and Trespass-offerings.

(a) In the case of the Burnt-offering, any kind of animal fit for sacrifice might be offered, but the victim was always required to be a male, and to be accompanied by a meat-offering. After presentation at the great altar, imposition of the hands of the sacrificer, and slaughtering, the priest sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about (Lev. i. 5, 11). The victim was then flayed, washed with water, and cut in pieces, and the parts thus divided were laid on the altar upon the wood, and entirely consumed by fire.

The burning by fire was the chief point in this class of offering, and “marked it as an expression of perpetual obligation to complete, sanctified, self-surrender to Jehovah88.” Hence it was not presented, like the sin- and trespass-offerings, upon the commission of any particular sin, nor like the peace-offerings upon the acceptance of any special Divine mercies; it embodied the general idea of sacrifice, and in a sense represented the whole sacrificial institute. Every morning and evening, therefore, a lamb was sacrificed with its usual meat- and drink-offering as a burnt-offering on behalf of the whole covenant people, and the evening victim was to be so slowly consumed that it might last till the morning, an expressive symbol of that continual self-dedication to God which is the duty of man89 (Ex. xxix. 38–44; Lev. vi. 9–13).

(b) Of Peace-offerings there were three kinds, representing various emotions of the offerer, the thank-offering, the freewill gift, and the vow (Lev. iii. 1–17; vii. 11–21, 28–36).

The nature of the offering was left to the sacrificer; it might be taken from the herd or from the flock, might be male or female, but not birds (Lev. iii. 1). Like the burnt-offering it was always accompanied by a meat-offering, which consisted of unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and leavened bread (Lev. vii. 12, 13).

The ritual of the Peace-offering was up to a certain point the same as that of the Burnt-offering. The sacrificer brought his victim to the Brazen Altar, laid his hands upon it and slew it, while the priest sprinkled the blood upon the altar; but after this there was a distinction. The victim was divided, and the priest laid upon the altar the fat of the kidneys, and the “lobe” or flap of the liver, and in the case of a sheep the fat tail, and burnt them with fire. He then separated the right shoulder and breast, and waved them before the Lord, and they became his portion which he was to eat in a clean place with his family and friends. The remaining portions of the victim were then restored to the sacrificer, who the same day feasted thereon, together with his whole family and his friends (Lev. vii. 15–21; xix. 6; xxii. 30).

This Sacrificial Feast was peculiar to the Peace-offerings, and indicated that the atonement was complete, that the sin was covered and cancelled which had separated the offerer from Jehovah, who now welcomed him to His table, and in this meal gave him a pledge of reconciliation. “To an Oriental mind two ideas were inseparably united in the notion of a meal; on the one hand, that of fellowship and friendship existing among the participators themselves, and also between them and the provider of the meal; and on the other hand, that of joy and gladness, so that even the highest and purest joy, viz. blessedness in the kingdom of heaven is described under the figure of a meal90” (Ps. xxiii. 5; xxxvi. 8; Matt. viii. 11; xxii. 2–13; Lk. xiv. 16). As the total consumption by fire on the altar was the culminating point in the burnt-offering, so this sacrificial feast was that of the peace-offering, which, therefore, whenever presented with other offerings, was invariably the last91. (Comp. Ex. xxiv. 5, 11; xxix. 1–32).

(c) The Sin- and Trespass-offerings were peculiar to the Mosaic Law, which was added on account of transgression (Gal. iii. 19), and deepened the knowledge and conviction of sin (Rom. vii. 7, &c.).

(a) The Sin-offering consisted of one animal only, and was not accompanied by a meat-offering. The victim if offered for the whole covenant people was a kid of the goats (Lev. xvi. 5, 9, 15; Num. xxviii. 15, 22, 30); for the priests and Levites at their consecration a young bullock (Ex. xxix. 11; Numb. viii. 8 ff.); for the High-priest on the great day of Atonement a young bullock (Lev. xvi. 3, 6, 11); for the purification of women after childbirth a young pigeon or turtle-dove (Lev. xii. 6, 8; comp. Lk. ii. 22, 24); for the cleansing of a leper or a leprous house a yearling ewe; or, in a case of poverty, a bird for the leper and two for the house (Lev. xiv. 13, 22–49); for an inadvertent transgression of some prohibition, (a) on the part of the whole congregation or the High-priest, a young bullock, (b) a prince, a he-goat, (c) a common man, a yearling ewe or kid (Lev. iv. 1–35).

The Ritual of the Sin-offering deserves attention. The offerer brought the victim to the great altar, laid his hand upon it with a confession of the sin and a prayer for its expiation, and then slew it. The priest then dipped his finger in the blood, and in the case of a prince or individual, sprinkled it seven times on the horns of the Brazen Altar (Lev. iv. 7, 18, 30, 34); in that of the High-priest and congregation seven times on the veil before the Ark, and seven times on the horns of the Golden Altar of Incense (Lev. iv. 6, 17, 25); on the great day of Atonement, the High-priest himself sprinkled it seven times on and before the Mercy-seat, and then seven times streaked with it the horns of the Altar of Incense (Lev. xvi. 14, 15, 19); the rest of the blood was poured on the ground before the Brazen Altar. After the sprinkling, the same portions were burnt on the altar, as in the case of the peace-offerings, and in ordinary cases the rest of the victim was eaten by the priest in the court of the Tabernacle with only the males of his family; but any vessels in which the flesh had been boiled were required, if earthenware, to be broken; if metal, to be carefully scoured (Lev. vi. 24–30). But in the case of the more important Sin-offerings, where the blood was sprinkled within the Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, the entire carcase, except the altar-pieces, with the hide, entrails, &c., was conveyed to a clean place without the camp, and there burnt with fire (Lev. iv. 11, 12, 21; xvi. 27).

Except when offered for the whole people, or the priests and Levites at their consecration, Sin-offerings were presented as an atonement for sins of culpable weakness and ignorance, negligence and frailty, repented of by the unpunished offender, who was thus restored to his place in the commonwealth. They could not be offered for presumptuous, or deliberate and unrepented sins, such as wilful murder or adultery, for which the punishment of death was appointed (Num. xv. 30, 31; Deut. xvii. 12; and comp. Heb. x. 26).

(b) The Trespass- or Debt-offering, on the other hand, though closely connected with the Sin-offering and sometimes offered with it, as in the case of the leper (Lev. xiv. 12), was always offered for some special act of sin, and was regarded in the light of reparation to the Lord for a wrong done to Him. Hence it was presented for sins “in which the offence given, or the debt incurred by the misdeed, admitted of some sort of recompence, which could be actually estimated92.”

The following cases will illustrate the occasions on which a trespass-offering could be presented. A leper, on the occasion of his cleansing, owed a debt-offering to Jehovah, for the time of his exclusion from the camp; the Nazarite for a temporary suspension of his vow by touching a dead body (Num. vi. 12); a man, who had inadvertently appropriated or made away with anything consecrated to the Lord (Lev. v. 15, 16), or unwittingly violated a Divine prohibition (Lev. v. 17, 18), or denied a trust or any damage sustained by the thing entrusted, or denied having found some lost article of property, or sworn falsely in such a matter (Lev. vi. 2 ff.). In these cases, whether the wrong done was in a matter of property or to the Lord, the damage was made good with an overplus, generally a fifth of the value, while the trespass-offering itself was the substitute for the damages due to the Lord, and assessed by the priest. The victim was, as in the case of the sin-offering, one animal only, and always a ram.

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CHAPTER V.

THE GREAT FESTIVALS.
Exod. xxiii. 14–17;   Lev. xxiii. 1–22;   Num. xxviii. 16–31;   Deut. xvi. 1–16.

THE great Historical Festivals, at which all males amongst the Israelites were required to appear before the Lord, were, as has been said already, (i) The Passover; (ii) The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost; (iii) The Feast of Tabernacles.

(i) The Passover. The original institution of this Festival has been already noticed. The directions for its yearly celebration are given in Ex. xxiii. 14–17; Lev. xxiii. 5–8; Num. xxviii. 16–25; Deut. xvi. 1–8.

As in Egypt, so now, on the 10th day of Nisan or Abib, corresponding to the close of March or the beginning of April, each Paschal company, which might not exceed twenty or be less than ten, was to select a lamb or kid, a male of the first year, and keep it till the 14th day. If pronounced by the priests to be free from blemish, it was to be slain between the evenings, in the Court of the Tabernacle, and its blood poured round the Altar of Burnt-offering. It was then, after being flayed, to be taken to the house where the Paschal Company intended to assemble, to be roasted with fire, whole and entire without the breaking of a single bone, and to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

The Festival lasted from the 14th to the 21st of Nisan, and during this period nothing but unleavened bread might be eaten, and all leaven was to be carefully removed from the house before the 14th. The daily sacrifices for the nation consisted of (i) a Burnt-Offering of two bullocks, one ram, seven yearling lambs, accompanied by the usual meat-offering, and (ii) one goat for a Sin-Offering. Thank-offerings, called by the Jews Chagigah, might also be offered by individuals during the Festival, especially on the 15th, the first day of Holy Convocation. (Comp. Lev. vii. 29–34; 2 Ch. xxx. 22–44; xxxv. 7.)

On the 16th the first ripe sheaf of barley was to be brought into the sanctuary, and there waved by the priest before the Lord, and at the same time a yearling lamb was offered with a meat- and drink-offering (see Lev. xxiii. 9–14). Till this sheaf had thus been waved, and this offering presented, no produce of the now ripening harvest, whether bread or parched corn, or green ears, might be eaten (Josh. v. 11, 12)100.

(ii) At the end of seven complete weeks from the 16th of Nisan, the second day of unleavened bread, commenced the Feast of Weeks (Ex. xxxiv. 22; Deut. xvi. 10), or of Harvest (Ex. xxiii. 16), or of First-fruits (Numb. xxviii. 26), or of Pentecost (Acts ii. 1), from the Greek word for the fiftieth day.

The passages bearing on it will be found in Ex. xxiii. 16; Lev. xxiii. 15–22; Num. xxviii. 26–31; Deut. xvi. 9–12.

The Festival lasted but one day, which was kept with a holy Convocation. Its distinguishing feature was the offering of two leavened loaves, made from the new corn of the now completed harvest, which together with two lambs as a thank-offering were waved before the Lord. The especial sacrifices in addition to the daily offering were one young bullock, two rams, and seven yearling lambs as a Burnt-offering with the usual meat- and drink-offering, and a goat for a Sin-offering; but thank-offerings might, as at the Passover, be made at pleasure by individuals.

The character of the Festival was pre-eminently an expression of gratitude for the harvest, which commenced with the offering of the first sheaf of ripe barley at the Passover, and ended with that of the two loaves now presented and made of the newly-ripened wheat. In its festive joy the man-servant and maid-servant, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow were to share with the freeborn Israelite, who was to be reminded of the bondage in Egypt, and his obligation to keep the Law101 (Deut. xvi. 12).

(iii) The Feast of Tabernacles or of Ingathering (Ex. xxxiv. 22) was so called as being (i) a feast of thanksgiving for the completion of the ingathering of fruits and of the vintage, and (ii) as commemorating the dwelling of the Israelites in tents during their wanderings in the wilderness (Lev. xxiii. 43).

The chief passages relating to it are Ex. xxiii. 16; Lev. xxiii. 34–43; Num. xxix. 13–39; Deut. xvi. 13–15; and compare with these Neh. viii.

It was celebrated in the autumn on the 15th of the seventh month Tisri, and lasted seven days, of which the first and last were days of Holy Convocation. It was the most joyous of all the Festivals. During it the Israelites were commanded to live in tents or booths of green boughs of the olive, palm, pine, myrtle, and other trees with thick foliage (Neh. viii. 15, 16). The burnt-offerings were more numerous at this Feast than any other, including, besides the sacrifice on each day of 2 rams, 14 lambs, and a kid for a sin-offering, that of 70 bullocks, 13 on the first day, 12 on the second, and so on to the seventh, when 7 bullocks only were offered. If the Festival fell in a Sabbatical year, portions of the Law, chiefly Deuteronomy, were read each day in public (Deut. xxxi. 10–12; Neh. viii. 18). The most remarkable celebrations of this Feast were (i) at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings viii. 2, 65); (ii) after the Captivity (Ezra iii. 4; Neh. viii. 17)102.

Later festivals were (i) the Feast of Purim, or Lots, instituted by Mordecai to commemorate the defeat of Haman’s machinations against the Jews (Esth. iii. 7–15; ix. 24–26). It began on the 14th day of the 12th month Adar, and lasted two days. (ii) The Feast of Dedication, to commemorate the cleansing of the Temple after its defilement by Antiochus Epiphanes (Dan. xi. 31). Established by Judas Maccabæus, it was kept on the 25th of the winter month Chisleu, December (Jn. x. 22), and lasted eight days, being distinguished by the offering of many sacrifices, a general illumination (hence its name the Feast of Lights), and other rejoicings.

In Scripture, dates are often fixed by a reference to the seasons or productions (Num. xiii. 20; 2 Sam. xxi. 9). The following Table, therefore, is here given, in which the civil and sacred months, their approximate English equivalents, the various annual feasts, and the chief features of the seasons are combined. It is assumed that Abib or Nisan answers to April. (See Article Month in Smith’s Bib. Dict. and Angus’s Bible Handbook, p. 270.)

Calendar

Year		Month	English Month (nearly)	Festivals	Seasons and Productions
Sacred i.	Civil 7	Abib or Nisan (green ears) Days 30 Exod. xii. 2	April	14. The Passover		Fall of the latter or spring rain. (Deut. xi. 14.) Floods (Josh. iii. 14).
					HARVEST
				16. First-fruits of barley-harvest presented		Barley ripe at Jericho.
						Wheat partly in the ear.
ii.	8	Zif (blossom) Days 29 1 Kings vi. 1	May	14. Second Passover for those who could not keep the first. Num. ix. 10, 11		Barley harvest general (Ruth i. 22).
						Wheat ripens.
iii.	9	Sivan Days 30 Esth. viii. 9.	June	6. Pentecost or Feast of Weeks		Wheat harvest. Summer begins.
						No rain from April to Sept. (1 Sam. xii. 17).
iv.	10	Thammuz Days 29 Zec. viii. 19	July		HOT SEASON.
						Heat increases.
v.	11	Ab Days 30 Esth. vii. 9	Aug.			The streams dry up.
						Heat intense.
						Vintage (Lev. xxvi. 5).
vi.	12	Elul Days 29 Neh. vi. 15	Sept.			Heat still intense (2 Kin. iv. 18–20).
						Grape harvest general (Num. xiii. 23).
vii.	1	Tisri or Ethanim Days 30 1 Kin. viii. 2 2 Chr. v. 3	Oct.	1. Feast of Trumpets	SEED TIME
				10. Day of Atonement		Former or early rains begin (Joel ii. 23).
				15. Feast of Tabernacles First-fruits of wine and oil (Lev. xxiii. 39)		Ploughing and sowing begin.
viii.	2	Bul (rain) Days 29 1 Kin. vi. 38	Nov.			Rain continues.
						Wheat and barley sown. Vintage in N. Palestine.
ix.	3	Chisleu Days 30 Neh. i. 1	Dec.	25. Feast of Dedication (1 Macc. iv. 52–59)	WINTER
						Winter begins. Snow on the mountains.
x.	4	Thebeth Days 29 Est. ii. 16	Jan.			Coldest month. Hail, snow (Josh. x. 11).
xi.	5	Shebat Days 30 Zech. i. 7	Feb.			Weather gradually becomes warmer.
xii.	6	Adar Days 29 Esth. iii. 7 Esth. ix. 27	March		COLD SEASON
				14, 15. Feast of Purim		Thunder and hail frequent.
						Almond-tree blossoms.

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CHAPTER VI.

CIVIL AND MORAL LAWS.
Exod. xxi.–xxiii.   Deut. xix.–xxiv.

HITHERTO we have been concerned with those portions of the Mosaic Law, which instructed the Israelite in his duty towards God, and the mode in which He was to be worshipped. We will now turn to the chief of those which instructed him in his duty as (i) a member of a family, and (ii) of a nation.

(i) The Family Relations include (1) The mutual duties of Parents and Children, (2) of Husband and Wife, (3) of Master and Servant.

(1) The duties of Parents and Children. Reverence for parents is enjoined in the Decalogue as the first duty next after those appertaining to God Himself. Honour thy father and mother is the first and the only commandment to which a promise of long life and continuance in the Promised Land is definitely attached (Ex. xx. 12; Eph. vi. 2), and to smite or revile father or mother is made a capital offence (Ex. xxi. 15, 17; Lev. xix. 3; xx. 9). In the Patriarchal times, as we have already seen106, the authority of the father over his children was very great. His blessing conferred special benefits, his curse special injury (Gen. ix. 25, 27; xxvii. 27–40; xlviii. 15, 20; xlix.). His authority was of great moment, not only in the marriage of sons (Gen. xxiv. 3), but of daughters, though in the latter case the consent of the brothers, or at least of the elder brother, was deemed important (Gen. xxiv. 50, 51; xxxiv. 11). But the Mosaic Law did not invest the father with the same boundless power as the Greek or Roman Law107. He could not inflict death irresponsibly. The incorrigible son, whom he could not restrain from flagrant crimes, he might bring before the elders of the city, who, having obtained the concurrence of both parents, might sentence him to be stoned to death. But in the execution of the judgment the whole congregation were required to take part, in order to promote a more general abhorrence of the sin (Deut. xxi. 18–21). The father could not disinherit his sons; to the firstborn he must give two portions, and equal shares to the rest; but in case of extreme indigence he might sell his children, especially his daughters, into servitude, or surrender them to creditors as a pledge (Ex. xxi. 7).

(2) The Relations of Husband and Wife. The institution of marriage was jealously guarded by the Mosaic Law. Adultery ranked next to murder, and the punishment for both parties was death by stoning (Lev. xviii. 20; xx. 10; Deut. xxii. 22). In deference to the universal custom of Oriental nations, and the example of the Patriarchs, polygamy was allowed, though by no means encouraged, and though frequently practised by the kings of Israel, was rare in private life (1 Sam. i. 2). The right of divorce was conceded (Deut. xxiv. 1–4) on account of the hardness of the hearts of the people (Matt. xix. 8), but a woman once divorced and marrying again might not return to her first husband, either on the death of, or when put away by, the second. The Mosaic Law sanctioned a custom of the Patriarchal age (Gen. xxxviii. 8), which made it necessary that if a man died childless, his wife should be taken in marriage by his surviving brother, and it was further ordained that the firstborn son by such a marriage should succeed in the name of his brother, that it be not put out in Israel (Deut. xxv. 5, &c.). The rigour, however, of the old custom was relaxed. If the brother had children of his own alive, he was exempt; and if he declared in open court his unwillingness to enter into the marriage, the duty devolved on the next relation of the deceased husband. (See Ruth iv. 5–11.)

(3) The Relation of Master and Servant. Slavery existed amongst the Israelites as amongst all other Eastern nations. Slaves could be acquired in four ways. (1) They might be taken in war (Num. xxxi. 11, 35; Deut. xx. 14); (2) they might be purchased of parents or former owners or merchants in time of peace (Gen. xvii. 23; Lev. xxv. 44, 45); (3) they might have sold themselves in satisfaction for a debt (Lev. xxv. 39–43; 2 Kings iv. 1); (4) they might be the children of slaves born in their master’s house. But while slavery was thus recognised as an institution, it was the aim of the Mosaic Law to mitigate its evils as much as possible. Thus, not only does it open with a number of precepts relating to slaves (Ex. xxi. 2–6), but it ever pronounced them to be equal before God as regarded their spiritual relation, and freely admitted them to all religious privileges, circumcision (Gen. xvii. 10–14; Ex. xii. 44), the rest of the Sabbath (Ex. xx. 10), the festivals (Ex. xii. 44), and gave them an interest in all the sacrifices offered by the family (Deut. xvi. 11, 14).

In regard, again, to civil rights, the Hebrew slave was never looked upon as a mere thing or chattel. A master could not chastise a slave to death without being punished (Ex. xxi. 20, 21), and if he inflicted bodily mutilation, the slave, whether male or female, might claim to be free (Ex. xxi. 26, 27). In the seventh year of his service the Hebrew slave might take up his freedom, leaving, however, his wife given him by his master during service and her children (Ex. xxi. 3, 4); if he declined to avail himself of this privilege, his master might take him before the elders, bore his ear with an awl to the door, and then he was his servant for ever, i.e. till the year of Jubilee (Ex. xxi. 5, 6; Deut. xv. 16, 17). Moreover, as the Israelites when delivered from Egyptian bondage had not gone forth empty, so the Hebrew bondslave at his release (which took effect in the Jubilee year, even though he had not served his full time) was to be furnished liberally out of the flock, the floor, and the winepress (Deut. xv. 13, 14). Besides bondslaves we also find hired servants among the Hebrews. They were to be treated kindly, and their wages duly paid (Lev. xix. 13; Deut. xxiv. 14, 15). Strangers also within the gates, whether runaway slaves or exiles from their own land, who would naturally be in extreme want, were to be treated with great kindness, for the Israelite himself was a stranger in the land of Egypt (Ex. xxii. 21; xxiii. 9). Together with the poor generally, whether Hebrews or heathens, they were to have the free enjoyment of the gleaning of the field and the garden (Lev. xix. 9, 10; xxiii. 22; Deut. xxiv. 19–21), of the spontaneous produce of the Sabbatical year (Lev. xxv. 5, 6), of the sacrificial and tithe-feasts (Deut. xiv. 28, 29), and their share at joyous family festivals, such as marriages, circumcision, the weaning of children.

(ii) The Laws affecting the Israelite in his civil capacity may be arranged in three groups, according as they regarded the sanctity of (1) Life, (2) Character, and (3) Property.

(1) Life. The Laws protecting the life and person include those against (a) premeditated murder, and (b) unintentional manslaughter.

(a) Premeditated murder. The wilful shedder of man’s blood met with no compassion from the Mosaic Code. The original law at Sinai (Ex. xxi. 12–14) and the subsequent repetition of it (Deut. xix. 11–13) made death the inevitable penalty of murder, even as it had been in the days of Noah (Gen. ix. 6). The murderer was regarded as accursed; for him the horns of the altar were to be no refuge; he was to be dragged from them by force to suffer his doom, nor could rank or wealth exempt him from it, for it was expressly provided that on no pretext whatever should any ransom be taken (Num. xxxv. 31, 32). Nor was his person only regarded as accursed, but so long as he remained undiscovered, even the land was looked upon as polluted. If no efforts could detect the murderer, the elders of the nearest town were to take a heifer, and bring it down to a rough valley, neither eared nor sown, and there strike off its head. They were then to wash their hands over it, and in the presence of the Levites pronounce the following words; Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O Lord, unto Thy people, whom Thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood to Thy people of Israel’s charge. Thus atonement was to be made (Deut. xxi. 1–9).

(b) Unintentional homicide. Prior to the Mosaic age, the duty of avenging blood devolved upon the next of kin, who was called the Goel or Avenger, and together with his office inherited the property of the deceased. Sometimes a whole family took upon them this duty (2 Sam. xiv. 7). Amongst the other nations, as the Arab tribes of the present day, “any bloodshed whatever, whether wilful or accidental, laid the homicide open to the duteous revenge of the relatives and family of the slain person, who again in their turn were then similarly watched and hunted by the opposite party, until a family war of extermination had legally settled itself from generation to generation, without the least prospect of a peaceful termination.” It was the aim of the Mosaic Law, without abolishing this long established custom, to mitigate its evils as far as possible. Accordingly it was directed that, on the arrival of the people in the Promised Land, six Cities of Refuge should be set apart, to which the homicide might fly, if not overtaken by the Avenger. Of these, three were to be on either side of the Jordan, almost equally remote from each other, and the roads leading to them were to be kept in a state of perfect repair (Ex. xxi. 13; Num. xxxv. 11; Deut. xix. 3). They were to be chosen out of the priestly and Levitical cities, as likely to be inhabited by the most intelligent portion of the community. On reaching one of them, the case of the homicide was to be examined by the elders; if they pronounced him guilty he was to be delivered up to the Avenger; if innocent, an abode was to be provided him in the city, where he was to remain till the death of the high-priest, but if found at any time by the Avenger beyond the limit of protection, 2000 cubits, he was liable to be put to death. On the demise of the high-priest he might return to the city of his possession (Num. xxxv. 25, 28)108.

(2) The sacredness of a man’s character was enforced by the commandment in the Decalogue forbidding false witness, and by laws prohibiting calumny, hatred, partiality in judgment for rich or poor (Ex. xxiii. 1–3; Lev. xix. 16–18). No exact penalty was enforced, but it was enjoined that in case of false witness the parties should be brought before the priests and judges, and if after diligent inquisition the charge was established, then should be done unto the slanderer as he had thought to have done unto his brother, that so the evil might be put away (Deut. xix. 19–21).

(3) Property was carefully guarded in the Mosaic Law, which forbade not only stealing, the act, but coveting, the intention.

(a) Direct theft was punished by restitution. If the stolen goods were found in the hands of the thief, he was to restore twofold; if before his detection he had applied them to his own use, he was to restore five oxen for an ox, four sheep for a sheep (Comp. 2 Sam. xii. 6); but a still heavier fine was exacted if he had not only sold, but killed and injured. If unable to pay the fine, he was to be sold into slavery to a Hebrew master, and serve him till he could pay (Ex. xxii. 1–4). A night-thief might be resisted even to death (Ex. xxii. 2). Man-stealing or kidnapping was a capital offence (Ex. xxi. 16). The crime of removing a neighbour’s landmark was severely reprobated (Deut. xix. 14; xxvii. 17).

(b) Indirect injury through carelessness or other causes. This included injury done to property entrusted to another for safe keeping. If it was stolen and the thief detected, he was to repay double; if he could not be found, the trustee, on being declared guilty of negligence by the judges, was to restore twofold. Compensation was also exacted, where property was injured through a pit being left open, through cattle straying amongst other cattle or trespassing on another’s land, or through fire spreading to standing corn (Ex. xxi. 33–36; xxii. 5, 6). Straying or suffering beasts, even if the property of an enemy, were to be brought back or relieved (Ex. xxiii. 4, 5).

Land. All land was to be regarded as belonging to God, and the holders as His tenants. At the conquest of Palestine each tribe was to have its allotment, and each family its portion, and these were to remain for ever inalienable (Num. xxvii. 1–11; xxxvi.; comp. 1 Kings xxi. 3; 2 Kings ix. 25, 26). All sold land, therefore, was to return to its original owners at the Jubilee, but might be redeemed by the owner or his representative at any period before then (Lev. xxv. 13–16, 23–28).

Laws of debt. An Israelite who had fallen into debt from any cause, might (i) sell himself as a slave to one of his own nation, with the right of resuming his freedom after six years, and at the Jubilee recovering his inheritance, (ii) claim a timely loan (Deut. xv. 1–11), but no usury might be taken from an Israelite (Ex. xxii. 25–27; Deut. xxiii. 19, 20). Thus pledges would become frequent, but they might not be cruelly or ruinously exacted. The handmill, a necessity in every family, might not be pledged (Deut. xxiv. 6); the cloak must be restored before nightfall when it became essential (Ex. xxii. 26, 27; Deut. xxiv. 12, 13); the lender was not to go into the house of his debtor to claim his pledge, or seize any article he chose; he was to stand abroad, and the pledge was to be brought out to him (Deut. xxiv. 10, 11).

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CHAPTER II.

THE WANDERINGS. DEATH OF MIRIAM AND AARON.
Numb. xv.–xxi.   B.C. 1490–1451.

AFTER this signal defeat it was clear that the sentence pronounced upon the existing generation was irrevocable, and the host remained for a considerable time at Kadesh (Deut. i. 46). During this period a formidable conspiracy broke out against the authority of Moses and Aaron. In their natural state of mortification at recent events, the people were now more than ever likely to lend a ready ear to those who whispered that under the auspices of any other than their present leaders, they might escape from their humiliating doom, and reach the goal of their hopes. Such fatal advisers soon appeared in the persons of Korah, a Kohathite, of the tribe of Levi, and Dathan, Abiram, and On, of the tribe of Reuben. The former, jealous probably of the sacerdotal pre-eminence of the line of Amram, and the latter loth to see their tribe deprived of their ancestor’s right of primogeniture, conspired, it is thought, “to place Korah at the head of a priesthood chosen by popular election, and possibly to restore the tribe of Reuben to the rights of the firstborn, of which it had been deprived116.”

Successful in gaining over to their views 250 princes of the people, they rose up against Moses and Aaron, and publicly charged them with taking too much upon themselves, and usurping functions which ought to have been shared by the congregation at large, who were all, every one of them, holy unto the Lord. On hearing these charges Moses resolved to refer the matter to the Divine decision, and bade Korah and his company assemble on the morrow with lighted censers before the Tabernacle. A similar summons was addressed to the Reubenite leaders, but they flatly refused to attend at the place of meeting, and charged Moses with having disappointed the hopes of the people, and being anxious only to make himself a prince over them. Curiosity, however, induced them to stand at the doors of their tents in full view of the Tabernacle, where Korah and his associates stood with lighted censers awaiting the Divine decision (Num. xvi. 1–16).

Before long the Glory of the Lord appeared, and Moses was instructed to command that a clear space should be kept round the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and that the people should be careful to touch nothing belonging to them, lest they should be consumed in their sin. Then the servant of Jehovah offered to submit his claims to an awful and infallible test. If the ringleaders in this rebellion died the common death of all men, or were visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord had not sent him; but if a new and terrible fate befell them, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, then it would be known that they had provoked the Lord. His words had hardly been uttered, when this awful catastrophe took place. The earth clave asunder, and swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with everything belonging to them, and at the same time a fire burst forth and consumed the 250 men, who had presumed to offer incense at the Sanctuary. Thus this great conspiracy was signally punished, and as a memorial of the occurrence, Eleazar the son of Aaron was directed to take the brazen censers of the offenders, and therewith to make plates for the altar of burnt-sacrifice.

In spite, however, of this terrible proof of the Divine displeasure, the very next day saw the people again murmuring against Moses and Aaron, complaining that they had slain the people of Jehovah, and threatening to break out into a fresh and general mutiny. Thereupon the Glory of Jehovah once more overshadowed the Tabernacle, and a plague broke out amongst the host. But at the exhortation of Moses, Aaron took a lighted censer from off the altar, and standing between the living and the dead, made an atonement for the people, but not before 14,700 men had by their deaths paid the penalty for their murmuring and insubordination. Thus the divinely-ordained priesthood of Aaron averted, while that assumed by Korah only brought destruction upon the host. But in order that the Aaronic priesthood might be still further attested, and that for all future generations, another sign was vouchsafed. Moses was directed to receive from the Prince of each tribe an almond rod with the name of the tribe inscribed thereon, and to lay these rods before the Ark in the Holy of Holies, that on the morrow it might be proved incontestably which tribe had been selected to perform the priestly functions. Moses obeyed, and on the morrow, when the rods were removed, behold! that of Levi, on which the name of Aaron had been inscribed, instead of being dry like the rest, had brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. Thus to the confusion of all other pretenders, the claims of this branch of the tribe of Levi were confirmed in a way that could not be gainsaid, and the Mystic Rod was directed to be laid up before the Ark, as a testimony against all future pretenders, and a pledge of the Divine choice (Num. xvii. 1–11; Heb. ix. 4).

From Kadesh the host now took their journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea (Deut. ii. 1), and for thirty-eight years continued to wander in the deserts of Paran. This long period of punishment and humiliation is shrouded by the sacred historian in profound obscurity. It is probable that Kadesh was for some time a sort of head-quarters, whence the great mass of the people were scattered far and wide in smaller or larger groups over the peninsula, while afterwards encampments were made at different spots, wherever Moses and the Tabernacle were settled (Num. xxxiii. 19–36). From a comparison of the four passages117 of Holy Scripture which alone throw any light upon this dark period of Israel’s history, Deut. viii. 2–6; Josh. v. 4–9; Ezek. xx. 10–26; Amos v. 25, 26, we infer that it was a period of “training and temptation, of humiliation and blessing, of natural wants and supernatural existence;” that the rite of circumcision was neglected, and the annual celebration of the Passover not kept up, while the Sabbath also was not strictly observed118 (Josh. v. 5; Ezek. xx. 13). Meanwhile, according to the sentence pronounced upon them, all the men of that generation from twenty years old and upwards died, save Moses and his brother, and the two faithful spies Joshua and Caleb.

At the close, however, of this period, the host once more assembled at Kadesh. Moses was now far advanced in years, and his second approach to the very threshold of the Promised Land was saddened by two events of a peculiarly mournful character. First, Miriam his sister, and companion of his childhood, died, and was buried at Kadesh (Num. xx. 1). But, however afflicted he may have been at her loss, the conduct of the people, whom he led, must have grieved him still more. For, again, on a failure of water, the new generation proved faithless, and brake forth into murmurings and complainings as violent as their forefathers at Rephidim. For the second time the ill-omened words of disaffection sounded in his ears, and roused in him and his brother feelings of greater irritation than they had ever displayed before. On appealing to the Lord, they were commanded to assemble the people before the Rock facing the encampment, and it was promised that it should bring forth water in obedience to their word. Thereupon the Brothers gathered the people together before the Rock, but instead of appealing to it, Moses began to speak unadvisedly (Ps. cvi. 32, 33) to them, saying, Hear now, ye rebels! must we fetch you water out of this rock? Then, instead of doing as he had been instructed, he lifted up his hand, and with the rod struck the Rock, not once, but twice, on which the refreshing streams indeed flowed forth abundantly, and supplied the wants of the people and their cattle, but the fidelity and self-control of the Brothers, of the Prophet and the Priest, had alike failed, neither had they sanctified Jehovah in the eyes of the host. (Comp. Num. xxvii. 14; Deut. xxxiii. 51.) For this sin, whatever may have been its precise heinousness, the Almighty pronounced on both the Brothers the sentence of exclusion from the Promised Land. Into it they were never to enter, or realise with the people they had led the hopes and anticipations of so many long and weary years.

But though thus excluded from the goal of his long pilgrimage, there was on the part of Moses no diminution of the zeal he had ever displayed in behalf of the people. Always preferring their welfare to his own, he was ready to lead them towards, if he was not to lead them into the Promised Land, and as a preliminary he sent ambassadors to the Edomites and Moabites, requesting a free passage through their territory. But though his messengers recounted the various proofs of Divine protection which had accompanied the journeyings of the people, and promised to keep to the highway, and injure neither the fields, the vineyards, nor the wells, but pay for any water they might use, they met with a direct refusal. Edom not only forbad them a passage through his territory, but posted a strong force to guard all the approaches into it. Thereupon, in obedience to the Divine command, the Israelites abstained from any retaliation against the descendants of Esau, and the latter did not openly venture to attack them. But an Amorite tribe inhabiting the southern highlands of Palestine, under the command of their chief Arad, fell upon them, and took some of them prisoners. This roused the spirit of the people; they attacked their foes, and utterly destroyed them and their cities, naming the spot in memory of the incident Hormah, or utter Destruction (Num. xxi. 1–4).

Thus debarred from what would have been the natural route towards the country east of the Jordan, nothing remained but to march southward down the Arabah towards the eastern arm of the Red Sea, and then take a long and wearisome circuit round the territory of the Edomites. Accordingly they set out, and reached Mount Hor119, at the edge of the land of Edom (Num. xxxiii. 37), and the highest and most conspicuous of the whole range of its sandstone mountains, overshadowing the mysterious city of Sela, or Petra, the Rock. Here it was intimated to Moses that another of the few remaining links which connected him with the generation that had come forth from Egypt must be taken from him. He had already laid Miriam in her desert-grave at Kadesh; now he was told that on the craggy top of Hor he must leave his brother, the high-priest Aaron, who in accordance with his recent sentence must die for his sin at the Waters of Strife. For the last time, therefore, the Brothers repaired to the Tabernacle, where Aaron was arrayed in his priestly robes, and then, accompanied by Eleazar his son, the three ascended the toilsome height in the sight of the mournful and watching host. Arrived at the summit Moses stripped his brother of his priestly garments, and put them on Eleazar, and there, in full view of the desert, the scene of his long pilgrimage, and just in sight of the utmost borders of the Land of Promise, on the first day of the fifth month, in the 123rd year of his age, the great High-priest was gathered to his fathers. Then Moses and Eleazar reverently interred him in his rocky tomb, and descended from the mount, and Eleazar ministered “that evening in the familiar garments of him, whom the people would see no more” (Num. xx. 22–29)120.

Thirty days were spent in mourning for Aaron, and then the host continued their march down the Arabah, and after encamping at Ezion-geber at the eastern head of the Red Sea, entered on the sandy, shadeless waste, which stretched eastward from the mountains of Edom far on to the Persian Gulf, and was even more terrible than the desert they had left. This and the thought of the long circuit that awaited them so wrought upon the spirit of the people, that they again broke out into bitterest complaints against their leader, their tedious march, and their food. The region they were now traversing abounded in fiery or deadly serpents121, of which the Lord sent many among the people, and much people of Israel died. But on the manifestation of a spirit of repentance, Moses, by the Divine command, made a Brazen Serpent, and fixed it upon a pole in the sight of the congregation, and all who looked thereon were healed. The symbol of this wonderful deliverance was long preserved, and was regarded with veneration as late as the days of Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii. 4), by whom it was destroyed. The occurrence is also memorable as having suggested one of the most sacred similitudes of the New Testament, for in His well-known conversation with Nicodemus, the Saviour likened to the uplifting of this serpent by Moses His own uplifting upon the Cross, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John iii. 14, 15).

After this incident the Israelites resumed their march, and pressing forward in a northerly direction, skirted the eastern frontier of Edom, and eventually encamped near the willow-shaded brook or valley of Zered122, which ran into the Dead Sea near its south-east corner, and formed the southern boundary of Moab. Hence they advanced towards the rushing stream of the Arnon (swift, noisy), “dashing through a deep defile of sandstone rocks,” the first river they had seen since they left the Nile. Crossing one of its fords, an incident commemorated in an ancient song (Num. xxi. 14, 15; Deut. ii. 24), they reached a spot which they called by a name sufficient of itself to indicate that their weary wanderings were at an end, and that they were approaching a cultivated land. Needing water, the princes and nobles, at the command of Moses, dug in the ground with their staves till they reached a cool refreshing spring. In memory of this grateful discovery they called the spot Beer-Elim123, the well of the Heroes, and celebrated their thanksgiving in a burst of sacred poetry (Num. xxi. 17, 18). They were now encamped on “the vast range of forest and pasture on the east of the Jordan.”

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CHAPTER IV.

WAR WITH THE MIDIANITES—DEATH OF MOSES.
Numb. xxv.–xxxii.   Deut. xxxii.   B.C. 1451.

BUT though his tongue had pronounced eloquent blessings upon the people he found he could not curse, Balaam’s heart was filled with malice against them. Dismissed by the king of Moab without the promised honours and rewards, he lingered amongst the neighbouring Midianites, and with the keen hatred of his now hardened heart counselled them to join the children of Moab in seducing the Israelites from their allegiance to Jehovah. The festival of Baal-Peor was at hand, and was celebrated with all the unbridled licentiousness of a heathen orgy. If the Israelites could be persuaded to join in it, they might, he suggested, become “as other men,” and the Invisible protection now vouchsafed would be withdrawn (Num. xxxi. 16). His artful suggestion was adopted. The festival was celebrated, and the Israelites fell into the snare. They joined themselves to Baal-Peor, took part in the hideous rites, and defiled themselves before the Lord. Thus they brought upon themselves a curse far more real than any that the divinations of Balaam could have effected. Had such apostasy gone unpunished, the Strength of Israel would indeed have ceased, and the counsels of the wily Prophet would have been successful. The crisis required severe and exemplary visitation. A plague broke out which swept off upwards of 24,000, and the princes of the tribes, at the command of Moses, slew the guilty with unsparing vigour, and hanged them up before the Lord. On this occasion Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, and grandson of Aaron, particularly distinguished himself by his righteous zeal, which was accepted as an atonement for the people, and rewarded not only by the cessation of the pestilence, but with a promise that the priesthood should remain in his family for ever.

But a terrible vengeance was denounced against the crafty Midianites, and after a second numbering of the people by Moses and Eleazar, a Sacred War was proclaimed. A thousand warriors from each tribe, led not by Joshua, but by Phinehas, and accompanied by the Ark, went forth to execute the task of righteous retribution. The silver trumpets sounded the signal for the onset, and the Midianites were utterly routed. Five of their chiefs, Evi and Rekem, Zur and Hur and Reba, as also all their males, were put to death; their cities were burnt; their goodly castles fired; their women and children taken captive; nor did the crafty prophet escape; he received the wages of his unrighteousness, and perished by the sword (Num. xxxi. 8; 2 Pet. ii. 15).

The country east of the Jordan, which the Israelites had now wrested from Sihon and Og, was to a great extent a long table-land of undulating downs famed for its rich pasturage136, and clothed with luxuriant vegetation. It was the forest-land, the pasture-land of Palestine, a place for cattle (Num. xxxii. 1). Of the tribes of Israel, as we have already noticed137, Reuben and Gad were eminently pastoral, they had a very great multitude of cattle (Num. xxxii. 1). On the conclusion, therefore, of the Sacred War against the Midianites, they approached Moses and the elders of Israel with the petition that they might be allowed to settle down in a region so peculiarly suited to their requirements. This request seemed to the Israelitish leader to savour of a desire to shrink from the arduous work which lay before the nation, and as likely to discourage the people from crossing over and attempting the conquest of the rugged western country, and he reproached them for their apparent selfishness and indifference to the welfare of their brethren. But the two tribes protested their perfect sympathy with the great national cause; they were ready to send the flower of their troops across the river, and only wished for the present to build sheepfolds for their cattle, and cities for their little ones, whither they might return on the conquest of the western country. This promise was deemed sufficient, and Moses distributed between them the lately conquered territory, assigning to Reuben and Gad the kingdom of Sihon from the Arnon to the Jabbok138, and intrusting to the half of the warlike tribe of Manasseh, whose warriors had taken so prominent a part in the conquest of the east of Jordan (Num. xxxii. 39; Deut. iii. 13–15), the inaccessible heights and impassible ravines of Bashan, and the almost impregnable tract of Argob139, the chief stronghold of the giant Og.

Meanwhile it had been once and again intimated to the Israelitish leader that the day drew near, when he must be gathered unto his fathers. Under the special direction, therefore, of Jehovah, he now occupied himself with giving final and specific instructions respecting the future government of the nation. Joshua “his minister” was solemnly appointed to be his successor; the boundaries of the Promised Land were definitely marked out (Num. xxxiv.); its cities with their suburbs, including six “cities of refuge” for the unwitting manslayer, were assigned to the tribe of Levi (Num. xxxv.), and other necessary regulations were made.

For an ordinary leader this would have been enough. But the recent sad occurrences in the matter of Baal-Peor had only too surely reminded Moses of the fickle tendencies of the nation, and none knew better than himself the awful consequences of national apostasy. For the last time, therefore, he assembled the people together and delivered to them his final counsels. Commencing with a retrospect of the past forty years, he reminded them of the goodness and faithfulness which had always followed them, in spite of their murmurings and discontent, and the victories they had been enabled to achieve (Deut. i–iv. 43). He recapitulated the Law given on Mount Sinai, with such additions or modifications as his own enlarged experience suggested (Deut. v. 1–xxvi. 19), and appointed a day, on which, at the conclusion of the conquest, its blessings and curses were to be ratified by the nation with the most imposing and solemn ceremonies (Deut. xxvii.). He then, for the last time, enlarged on the exalted vocation of the nation, and the blessings which would assuredly accompany obedience to the Divine laws, in the city and the field, in their basket and their store, in their going out and their coming in, and dwelt with no less earnestness on the terrible punishments which would follow apostasy and transgression, “in furnishing images for which the whole realm of nature was exhausted, and which nothing excepting the real horrors of the Jewish history, the misery of their sieges, the cruelty, the contempt, the oppressions, which for ages this scattered, despised, and detested nation have endured, can approach140” (Deut. xxviii.–xxx.).

But oral delivery was not deemed sufficient. He, therefore, wrote out the Law, with its blessings and its curses, and gave it to the priests, charging them to place it beside the Ark in the Holy of Holies, and to read it, in the hearing of all the people, once every seven years, at the Feast of Tabernacles (Deut. xxxi. 9, 26). Then turning to Joshua, whom he had already nominated as his successor, he bade him Be strong and of a good courage, assuring him that Jehovah would be with him, and would make all he did to prosper. But as if to deepen the gloomy forebodings past experience must have suggested, the Lord Himself not only announced in the clearest terms the future apostasy of the people (Deut. xxxi. 16–18), but directed Moses to compose a Song, which the people were to learn and teach their children, as a testimony against themselves in the days to come, when they should have turned unto other gods, and served them, and provoked the Lord, and broken His covenant (Deut. xxxi. 18, 21; xxxii. 1–43). Having composed this Song of Witness141, and pronounced his last solemn blessing, not like Jacob upon twelve men gathered round his deathbed, but on a mighty nation, on the ten thousands of Ephraim, and the thousands of Manasseh, the aged Prophet, whose eye was not dim nor his natural force abated, was warned that his hour was come. From the plains of Moab he went up the mountain of Nebo, to the highest point in the long eastern range over against Jericho, and there He who called him to his high mission at the Burning Bush showed him that land, which had been so long sworn to the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Eastward and westward, southward and northward, he surveyed that goodly Land; he saw it all with his eyes though he was not to set his foot thereon. “Beneath him lay the tents of Israel ready for the march; and ‘over against’ them, distinctly visible in its grove of palm-trees, the stately Jericho, key of the Land of Promise. Beyond was spread out the whole range of the mountains of Palestine, in its fourfold masses; ‘all Gilead’ with Hermon and Lebanon in the east and north; the hills of Galilee, overhanging the lake of Gennesareth; the wide opening where lay the plain of Esdraelon, the future battle-field of the nations; the rounded summits of Ebal and Gerizim; immediately in front of him the hills of Judæa, and, amidst them, seen distinctly through the rents in their rocky walls, Bethlehem on its narrow ridge, and the invincible fortress of Jebus142.” Such was his Pisgah-view, and then all was over. The great Prophet had served his day and his generation, he had reached his 120th year, and his work was ended. There, in the land of Moab, he died, and He whom he had served faithfully in all His house, buried him in a valley or ravine in the land of Moab, over against the idol-sanctuary of Beth-Peor (Deut. xxxiv. 6), but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.

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CHAPTER II.

CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS.
Josh. vii.–xi.   B.C. 1451.

THE passes into the central hills being thus secured, Joshua without delay sent men to reconnoitre the position of Ai, a royal city, strongly posted beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Bethel, “at the head of the ravines running up from the valley of the Jordan.” The spies reported it as easy of capture, and suggested that two or three thousand men would be amply sufficient for the undertaking. Acting on their advice Joshua dispatched the suggested number, who advanced boldly up the ravine, but only to meet with an unexpected and disastrous repulse. The men of Ai, strong in their high position, chased them down the “steep descent” from the gates, and slew about thirty-six men.

This unlooked-for reverse excited the profoundest despondency in the Israelitish camp. Joshua and the elders, with dust upon their heads, lay till eventide upon the ground before the Ark, which had so lately been led triumphantly round Jericho, anticipated nothing less than a general attack of the collected Canaanites, emboldened by the discomfiture of the people. From this dejection they were roused by the Voice of the Captain of the Lord’s Host informing them that the Israelites themselves were the cause of this defeat; they had not kept themselves from the accursed thing in the devoted city of Jericho, but had taken and concealed a portion of the spoil, nor till atonement was made for this sin, could they expect any further success to attend their arms.

On the morrow, therefore, all Israel was assembled by their tribes, and an appeal was made to the sacred Lot to discover the offender. The tribe of Judah having been taken, its clans, families, and households were successively led forth, and at length the transgressor was found in the person of Achan, the son of Carmi. Adjured by Joshua to make a full confession, he owned that from the spoils of Jericho he had secretly set aside a richly ornamented Babylonish or Assyrian robe149, 200 shekels of silver, and a solid wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels, and had hidden them in the ground under his tent. Thither messengers were sent, and there the stolen property was found, and spread before the assembled host. Achan was then taken to a valley south or south-west of Jericho, and there stoned to death, together with his sons, his daughters, and all his family; their remains together with his tent, the stolen property, and all his possessions were then burnt with fire, while a great mound of stones was set up over the scene of the execution, and the valley was henceforth known as that of Achor (trouble).

The host was now in a position to resume the attack upon Ai. Selecting150 30,000 men from his forces, Joshua set out from Gilgal, and on reaching the neighbourhood of the city detached 5,000 men to place themselves during the night in ambush behind it. Meanwhile he himself, with the rest of his army, took up his position on an eminence near the north side of the town. Early the following morning he descended into the valley, and the king of Ai no sooner detected them than he advanced with all his forces to the encounter. Thereupon the Israelites feigned a retreat, and were hotly pursued by their foes towards the desert of the Jordan151, while at the signal of Joshua’s uplifted spear the ambuscade rushed into Ai and set it on fire. The smoke of their city ascending up to heaven was the first announcement to the inhabitants of the success of the stratagem practised by the Israelites. Attacked before and behind they were utterly routed, and their whole population, numbering 12,000, were put to the sword. The city itself was sacked and burnt, and its king having been taken prisoner was hanged upon a tree till sunset, when the body was taken down, and a huge heap of stones was piled up over his grave.

After this signal victory the Israelitish leader determined to take advantage of the terror which the success of his arms had inspired in the hearts of the Canaanites, and carry out the command of Moses152 touching the ratification of the Law with imposing and solemn ceremonies, on the mountains Ebal and Gerizim (Deut. xxvii.). From Ai, to the north of which the host had already advanced, Ebal was about 20 miles distant. Thither accordingly the host repaired; an altar of unhewn stones was erected, and burnt-offerings and peace-offerings were sacrificed to Jehovah. The stones were then plastered with lime, and the words of the Law, probably the Ten Commandments, or the Blessings and Cursings contained in Deut. xxvii. inscribed thereon153. Half of the assembled tribes then ascended the summit of Ebal, the other half that of Gerizim. In the intermediate valley154 stood the priests and Levites with the Ark, surrounded by the elders, officers, and judges, with Joshua at their head. Of the blessings and cursings of the Law each was then read aloud by the Levites, and as they read, to each curse the six tribes on Ebal responded with a unanimous loud Amen, and to each blessing the assembled thousands on Gerizim similarly testified their acquiescence155.

On their return from this solemn ratification of the Covenant the Israelites assembled at Gilgal156. Here they were met by an embassy from Gibeon, now El-Jib. It was a royal city, situated exactly “opposite the opening of the pass of Ai,” inhabited by the commercial Hivites, and was at this time the head of a small group of confederate cities, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim (Josh. ix. 17). Alarmed by the successes of Joshua, the Canaanite kings of the hills, the valleys, and the sea-coast had mustered their forces for a general attack upon him. In this the Gibeonites had resolved to take no part, but determined if possible to make a league with the Israelites. For this purpose they sent ambassadors arrayed in old and tattered garments and clouted shoes, carrying old sacks upon their asses, dry and mouldy bread, and goat-skin bottles patched and shrivelled, the better to keep up the appearance of being toil-worn travellers from a far country (Josh. ix. 3–13).

Completely deceived by this wily embassage, without waiting to take counsel of the Lord, Joshua and the princes concluded a covenant with them, and solemnly swore that they would spare their lives. Within three days, however, they arrived in the midst of their cities, and ascertained that instead of being very far off, they were their near neighbours. Loud was the murmuring of the people against their chiefs, when they saw how they had been duped. But the latter nobly determined to abide by their oaths, and in place of putting the Gibeonites to death reduced them to the condition of bondmen, and made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord157.

Meanwhile news of the capitulation of Gibeon having reached the ears of the southern kings, they resolved to attack the recreant city, and five powerful chiefs, the king of Jebus, the king of Hebron or Kirjath-Arba, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, marched against it, and commenced a regular siege. In their alarm the Gibeonites sent an urgent message to Joshua at Gilgal, bidding him slack not his hand, but come to their aid with the utmost speed, and deliver them from their powerful foes. Perceiving that not a moment was to be lost, Joshua instantly arrayed all his forces, and by a forced march suddenly burst upon the Amorite kings, as they lay encamped before the city. Unable to offer any effectual resistance to this utterly unexpected attack, they were helpless before the Hebrew leader, and the Lord who fought for Israel. Numbers were slaughtered at Gibeon itself, numbers fled along the rocky ascent leading to Upper Beth-horon (the house of Caves), about four miles distant. Hence, however, they were chased by the triumphant Israelites along the rough descent leading to Lower Beth-horon, and thence to Azekah and Makkedah, when a terrific storm burst forth; the Lord thundered out of heaven and cast down great hailstones upon the flying Canaanites, so that they were more which died with the hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword (Josh. x. 11). Standing on the summit of Upper Beth-horon158, Joshua watched the foe flying in helpless confusion towards the western lowlands. The Lord had already delivered them into his hands, and time only was needed to render the rout complete and enable his forces to avenge themselves on their enemies. But the day was far advanced, and he feared the Canaanites might yet make good their escape. In the sight, then, of all Israel, he cried, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon (the place of deer or gazelles). And the Lord, who fought for Israel, hearkened to the voice of His servant: the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, and in the lengthened afternoon the pursuit was continued without pause or rest. Arrived at Makkedah, somewhere in the Shephelah or maritime plain, the five kings hid themselves in a well-known cave159 shaded by trees. But thither also the tide of battle brought the triumphant Joshua, who bade his followers only pause to roll great stones to the mouth of the cave, and set men by it for to keep them. Longer he would not tarry; intent upon the pursuit he urged his forces to smite the hindmost of their foes, and prevent their escaping into their cities. His words were obeyed, nor till they had made an end of slaying the Canaanites with a great slaughter did the pursuers return to Makkedah. Here a camp was formed, and the mouth of the cave having been opened, the five kings were dragged forth in the sight of Joshua and all the men of Israel. As they lay prostrate upon the ground, the Israelite leader bade the captains of the men of war put their feet on their necks, and then smote them, and slew them, and hanged them upon five trees, until the evening. Then, as the sun went down upon that memorable day, like which was no day before or after it, they were taken down, and flung into the cave where they had vainly tried to conceal themselves, great stones were once more rolled to its mouth, and the royal sepulchre was closed (Josh. x. 16–27).

Such was the issue of the eventful battle of Beth-horon. It sealed the fate of every important city of southern Palestine. One after another, Makkedah and Libnah, Lachish and Eglon, Hebron and Debir fell before the victorious Israelites. From one captured city they passed on to another conquering and to conquer, till they had smitten all the country of the hills and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs from Kadesh-Barnea in the southern desert to the central plain of Esdraelon (Josh. x. 41).

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CHAPTER I.

EVENTS SUBSEQUENT TO THE DEATH OF JOSHUA.
Judg. I.   B.C. circ. 1425.

THE position of the Israelites at the death of Joshua was eminently favourable. A nation of freemen, entrusted at Sinai with the “Oracles of God,” they were now in possession of the Promised Land. Though their late leader had not appointed any successor to those extraordinary functions he had retained throughout his life, a complete form of government had always obtained amongst them ever since they became a nation in Egypt. This was mainly kept up by the chiefs of the several tribes, the heads of the great families or clans, and the heads of houses. (Comp. Josh. viii. 33; xxiii. 2; xxiv. 1.) God Himself was their King, and in a sensible and living presence manifested Himself at the Tabernacle now set up at Shiloh, and revealed His will through the mediation of the High-priest.

But though their position was one of great privileges and blessings, it was none the less one of trial and probation. The purposes for which the Vine of Israel had been called out of Egypt (Ps. lxxx. 8) and planted in this goodly land could not be fulfilled without trouble and exertion. There were enemies without and within their newly-acquired territory, ready at the first opportunity to attempt its recovery from their hands. If they were secure from their old oppressors the Egyptians, yet on the south and south-east the Midianites and Amalekites were only too likely to attack a people, whose late victories must have been a continual source of jealousy; while on the north-east were formidable chiefs, who might, as in the days of their forefather Abraham171, sweep down upon the country beyond the Jordan, and grievously harass the eastern tribes. Moreover, extensive as the conquests of Joshua had been, they had not achieved nor were they intended to achieve the entire extirpation of the Canaanites. The conquered population retained large tracts and important positions in the very heart of the country. The Philistines retained the fertile plain of the Shephelah in the south-west; the almost impregnable fortress of Jebus still remained unconquered on the very border of Judah; well nigh the entire sea-coast from Dor to Sidon was in the hands of the Phœnicians; the strong towns of Beth-shean, of Taanach, and Megiddo were still held by the Canaanites in the fertile plain of Jezreel; while on the north still lingered formidable remnants of the great confederacy under Jabin. These nations had not been driven out hastily, but had been left to test and prove the fidelity of the generation that had not known the wars of Canaan (Judg. ii. 22), and the duty of subjugating them had been solemnly enforced by Joshua in his last address to the assembled tribes (Josh. xxiii. 5–10).

Accordingly we find that all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, the nation did not forget its vocation, but carried on the work to which it had been called (Judg. ii. 7).

1. Thus Judah, whose conquest of Hebron and its vicinity has been already related, in alliance with the neighbouring tribe of Simeon, attacked Bezek, slew 10,000 of its Canaanite and Perizzite inhabitants, and captured its ferocious king Adoni-bezek, whose cruel mutilation of seventy vassal princes gives us an insight into the character of the native chiefs, whom Israel was commissioned to expel (Judg. i. 6, 7). As he had done to others, so Judah did to him. They cut off his thumbs and his great toes, and carried him captive to Jerusalem, i.e. to the Lower City, which was taken, and set on fire. But the Upper City resisted all their efforts, as afterwards those of the tribe of Benjamin (Judg. i. 21172). They were more successful, however, in other places, and reduced numerous cities of the Canaanites in the central mountains, the southern desert, and the low country of the west (Judg. i. 17, 18).

2. The powerful house of Joseph was not behind-hand in following the example of the lion-tribe of Judah. They sent spies to descry the town of Luz, who seeing a man coming from thence, seized him, but consented to spare his life and that of his family on condition that he shewed them the entrance, on ascertaining which, they smote the place with the edge of the sword. Thus in addition to Shechem, the house of Joseph became possessed of another spot consecrated by the most sacred associations, even the town, near which was the stone Pillar their father Jacob had set up on his way to Padan-Aram, and called the place Beth-el, the House of God (Judg. i. 22–26). But they were not similarly successful in expelling the Canaanites from Gezer near lower Beth-horon (Judg. i. 29), or from their strongholds in the plain of Jezreel, Taanach, Megiddo, and Beth-shean. Instead of utterly driving them out, they put them under tribute, as also the Amorites, who succeeded in thrusting the children of Dan from the fertile lowland of the sea-coast into the mountains, to be themselves dispossessed in turn by the Philistines (Judg. i. 34, 35).

3. Similar declensions from the strict line of duty marked the conduct of other tribes. Zebulun contented itself with merely imposing tribute on the nations within its borders; Asher made no attempt to expel the powerful Phœnicians on the sea-coast from Accho to Zidon, or from their more inland settlements; and Naphtali spared the inhabitants of the fenced cities of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath (Judg. i. 30–33). This neglect of an obvious duty soon led to worse results. Contrary to the express commands of the Law, and the repeated exhortations of Moses and Joshua, the Israelites began to make leagues with the heathen nations. Leagues with nations led to marriages with individuals, and these to their natural consequences. Their new relatives invited the Israelites to their idolatrous festivals, where the consecrated licentiousness gratified their sensual appetites, and before long there arose a generation, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel (Judg. ii. 10). Forgetting Him who had done so great things for them, they bowed themselves to strange gods, and practised the worst abominations, even sacrificing their sons and their daughters to Baal and Ashtaroth (Ps. cvi. 37, 38; Judg. ii. 13).

This gradual spread of idolatry, and as a natural consequence, of moral and social degeneracy, is strikingly illustrated by two incidents recorded in the last five chapters of the Book of Judges, which seem to have been inserted for this very purpose as a kind of appendix to that Book173.

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CHAPTER II.

MICAH AND THE DANITES, THE TRIBAL WAR.
Judg. xvii.–xxi.   B.C. circ. 1406.

THERE was living about twenty years after the death of Joshua in Mount Ephraim in central Palestine a man named Micah, whose mother one day lost 1100 shekels of silver. So terrible was the curse she imprecated on the thief, that her son in alarm confessed that he had abstracted the money. Instead of reproaching him, his mother thereupon informed him that she had dedicated this sum, probably the savings of a lifetime174, to the Lord, to make a graven and a molten image. Upon this Micah restored the money to his mother, who sent 200 shekels to a founder for the purpose of fashioning the idol. When made, it was set up in Micah’s house, and he consecrated one of his sons as priest, and arrayed him in a sacred vestment, probably made in imitation of the ephod of the High-priest. Not satisfied, however, with the ministrations of his son, on the arrival of a young Levite of Bethlehem in Judæa, travelling, probably, in search of employment as a teacher of the Law, he persuaded him also to become his priest, and agreed to give him 10 shekels of silver a-year, suitable sacerdotal vestments, and his living. On these terms the Levite was content to dwell with him, became his priest, and was unto him as one of his sons.

Soon after this it happened that the tribe of Dan being still hard pressed by the Amorites175, and desirous of an addition to their territory, sent five spies from two towns in the low country to discover a new and advantageous settlement. The spies set out, and on their way came to Mount Ephraim, where they obtained a lodging in the house of Micah. Recognizing the voice of the young Levite, they enquired the cause of his presence there, and on ascertaining the position he held, begged him to ask counsel of Jehovah as to the success of their expedition. The Levite did so, and the answer was propitious. Thereupon the spies resumed their journey, and tracking the Jordan to its source beyond the waters of Merom, came to an eminence on which rose the town of Laish (Tell el-Kâdy), a colony from Sidon, whose inhabitants, “separated from their mother-city176 by the huge mass of Lebanon and half of Anti-Lebanon,” dwelt quiet and secure (Judg. xviii. 7) in the enjoyment of the warm climate and exquisite scenery, and tilling the fertile soil irrigated by many streams.

The spies marked the spot, and on their return bade their brethren arise, and take possession of a place where there was no want of anything that is in the earth (Judg. xviii. 10). Upon this, six hundred Danites from Zorah and Eshtaol girded on their weapons of war, and went up and encamped at a spot behind Kirjath-jearim, which though it belonged to Judah, they named Mahaneh-Dan, or the Camp of Dan. Thence they ascended into the mountain-range of Ephraim, and like the spies before them, drew near the house of Micah. Informed that here there was an ephod and teraphim, a graven image and a molten image, the six hundred warriors took their stand by the gateway leading into the court, and engaged the Levite in conversation, while the spies ascended into the sanctuary, and stole away the images with the sacerdotal vestments. On re-appearing, the Levite tried to expostulate, but was speedily bidden to hold his peace, and without much difficulty suffered himself to be persuaded that it would be better to accompany them, and instead of being a priest unto one man, to become a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel (Judg. xviii. 19). With such secrecy was their departure effected, that the Danites had got a good way from the house of Micah, before the latter became aware of the grievous wrong he had sustained. Gathering together the inhabitants of the houses, which had gradually clustered round his idolatrous sanctuary, he pursued after the roving warriors. But it was in vain that he gave vent to his grief and rage. The spoilers only mocked him, and bade him take care he did not lose his life as well as his gods; consequently he was fain to return to his rifled sanctuary, while the six hundred held on their way northward.

Reaching the source of the Jordan far up in the northern mountains, they found the town of Laish just as the spies had described it. Far from its mother-city, the careless colony had no deliverer in its hour of peril. Without warning the spoilers burst upon it, scaled its walls, set it on fire, and massacred its inhabitants, men, women and children without mercy. They afterwards rebuilt it, called it Dan after the name of Dan their father, and there set up the images they had taken from Micah. There too the young Levite, who, it seems, was no unimportant personage, but no other than Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of the great lawgiver Moses177, ministered at this new sanctuary, and his descendants remained till the Captivity (Judg. xviii. 14–31).

If any proof were wanting of the association of religious with moral declension at this period, it is supplied by the biography of another Levite, which is also given in these concluding chapters of the Book of Judges.

2. This Levite, who, like the other, dwelt on the edge of Mount Ephraim, took him a concubine out of Bethlehem-Judah, who proved faithless, and returned to her father’s house. On this her husband went in quest of her, and was received by her father with true Eastern hospitality. As the fifth day declined after his arrival, resisting the importunities of his father-in-law who would have had him stay longer, he rose up to return, and as night fell drew near the town of Jebus, which still remained in the hands of its Canaanite inhabitants. Rejecting the advice of his servant to lodge there during the night, he pressed on, and it was already dark when he reached Gibeah in Benjamin.

As he was sitting in the streets of the town awaiting an offer of shelter, an old man approached coming from his work in the fields. His home, too, was in Mount Ephraim, but he was sojourning at Gibeah, and taking compassion on the homeless condition of the Levite he brought him into his house, and gave him a lodging for the night. As they sat at meat, certain of the lowest inhabitants of the place set upon the house, and treated the Levite’s concubine with such violence, that in the morning when he arose he found her lying dead before the door. Enraged at this savage act he took her home, and there with his knife divided her together with her bones into twelve pieces, and sent them among the twelve tribes. This ferocious summons to vengeance roused all Israel as one man (Judg. xx. 1). Even the tribes beyond the Jordan assembled with the rest of their brethren, and 400,000 warriors met at Mizpeh in Benjamin, a fortified eminence a little to the north of Jebus, and listened to the Levite while he recounted the dark tale of outrage (Judg. xx. 2–6).

The recital excited still greater indignation, and all the people knit together as one man bound themselves by a solemn vow never to return to their homes till they had taken deep vengeance on the inhabitants of Gibeah for the disgrace they had brought upon Israel. Messengers were accordingly sent through the territory of Benjamin demanding their surrender. This the Benjamites absolutely refused, and making the cause of Gibeah their own, prepared to encounter the men of Israel with all their forces, amounting to 26,000, together with the 700 warriors of Gibeah, chosen men, left-handed, every one of whom could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss (Judg. xx. 16).

In this juncture, instead of consulting the Divine Will whether they should embark in this war at all, the indignant tribes having already decided on the campaign only sought to know who should take the lead. Judah was the tribe indicated by the Divine response, and in the engagement that ensued, the Israelites were defeated with a loss of upwards of 22,000 men. On the day following they renewed the attack, but only to sustain a second reverse and a loss of 18,000 of their best troops. In the greatest distress at this double defeat, the eleven tribes assembled at Bethel, fasted the whole day until the evening, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord. Then Phinehas, who had led the sacred war against the Midianites, enquired whether a third engagement should be hazarded, and in reply was bidden to go up, for this time the Lord would deliver Benjamin into their hand (Judg. xx. 28).

Thereupon it was resolved to repeat the tactics so successful at Ai. An ambuscade was planted behind Gibeah, and on the descent of the Benjamites a flight was feigned to draw them from the town towards a spot, where the road divided into two paths, the one leading to Bethel, the other to Gibeah-in-the-Field, probably the modern Jeba. Unconscious of their danger the Benjamites suffered themselves to be decoyed from the town, and slew about 30 of their foes. Meanwhile the ambuscade arose, and bursting on the defenceless town, put the inhabitants to the sword. A great pillar of flame and smoke signalled to the rest of the army the success of the stratagem, and the Benjamites at last awakened to their danger fled eastward to the desert region bordering on the Jordan valley. But their foes now turned, and inclosing them round about (Judg. xx. 43), trode them down, and slew 25,000.

From this indiscriminate massacre only 600 of the Benjamites effected their escape to the cliff of Rimmon, an inaccessible natural fortress situated about 7 miles north-east of Gibeah, and overhanging the wild region bordering on the Jordan. Here they entrenched themselves for a space of four months, while the eleven tribes not content with firing and ravaging every town in the territory of Benjamin, bound themselves by a vow to abstain from all intermarriage with them. Regret, however, for the almost entire extinction of a tribe in Israel subsequently softened their hearts, and by a curious stratagem characteristic of this troubled period, when there was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes (Judg. xxi. 25), they enquired whether any city had failed to take part in the late tribal war. Thereupon it was discovered that Jabesh-gilead, a city on the east of the Jordan, had sent no forces to aid their brethren. Thither, therefore, 12,000 men were despatched, with instructions utterly to destroy the recreant city and massacre every man and married woman. This ruthless order was executed to the letter, and the entire population was put to the sword, save 400 virgins, who were given in marriage to the remnant of Benjamin. These not sufficing for wives, the Benjamites took advantage of a yearly festival at the sanctuary of Shiloh, when the daughters of the place assembled to take part in the sacred dances, and concealing themselves in the neighbouring vineyards, burst forth upon the unsuspecting maidens and carried off each one a wife for himself, with whom they returned, repaired their towns, and dwelt in them (Judg. xxi. 23–25).

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CHAPTER IV.

INVASION OF THE MIDIANITES. GIDEON.
Judg. vi.–viii.   B.C. circ. 1256–1249.

AS so often before, the effects of this last great deliverance were but transitory. Again the Israelites relapsed into idolatry, and in consecrated groves practised all the abominations that disgraced the worship of Baal. The national punishment they thus drew down upon themselves was more severe than anything they had yet endured. Since the sacred war led by Phinehas against the Midianites195 (Num. xxxi. 1–13), that people had recovered much of their ancient strength, and now in concert with the Amalekites, and the children of the East (Judg. vi. 3), or the Arabian tribes beyond the Jordan, they determined to invade the territory of Israel. Led by two superior chiefs, having the title of king, Zebah and Zalmunna, and two inferior chiefs, Oreb and Zeeb (the Raven and the Wolf), they poured into the country with their herds, their flocks, and their camels, like locusts for multitude, and gradually overran it from the plain of Jezreel down the valley of the Jordan, and southward as far as Gaza in the fertile Lowlands of the west. Here they established themselves, destroyed the crops196, and for a period of seven years reduced the Israelites to the greatest straits, so that they left the plains, and fled for refuge to dens or catacombs, which they cut out of the rocky mountains, to inaccessible strongholds, and the limestone caves with which Palestine abounds197 (Judg. vi. 2).

As so often before, the Deliverer came from the quarter most exposed to the ravages of the invaders. At Ophrah, in the hills of western Manasseh, not far from Shechem, and overlooking the plain of Jezreel, the head-quarters of the Midianitish host, lived a high-born Abi-ezrite, a descendant of one of the princely families of Manasseh (Josh. xvii. 2; Num. xxvi. 30), named Joash. The invasion had brought not only impoverishment but dire bereavement into his home. In a skirmish near the heights of Tabor the Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, had slain all his noble sons save one, Gideon (Judg. viii. 18, 19).

On one occasion, as Gideon was threshing wheat, not in the open summer threshing-floor, but by the winepress198 near his native Ophrah, to hide it from the Midianites, an Angel appeared and saluted him with the words, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. In reply Gideon contrasted the present degraded condition of the nation with the glorious days when Jehovah brought them out of Egypt, and complained that He had now deserted them, nor was there any hope of deliverance. Thereupon the Angel informed him that he was the destined Saviour of his people, that the Lord would be with him, and that he should smite the Midianites as one man (Judg. vi. 16). Unable to believe that such a mission could be designed for himself, Gideon requested a sign to assure him that the Speaker was a messenger of Jehovah, and by direction of the Angel made ready a kid, and cakes of unleavened bread, and presented them under the oak. The Angel then bade him lay the flesh and unleavened cakes upon the rock and pour the broth over them, and when he had done so touched them with a rod he bore in his hand. Instantly there rose up fire from the rock, and consumed the offering, in the midst of which the Angel suddenly disappeared. The fact that he had thus been permitted to converse face to face with Deity filled Gideon with alarm, but the Lord reassured him, and he built an altar there which he called Jehovah-Shalom, or, the Lord send Peace, in memory of the salutation of the Angel (Judg. vi. 24).

i. Thus solemnly called to be the Deliverer of his countrymen, Gideon was first commissioned to testify against the idolatrous practices which had caused the present national degradation. The Lord appeared to him in a dream, and bade him throw down an altar which his father had erected in honour of Baal, and cut down a grove he had set up, and then to build in an orderly manner an altar to Jehovah on the rock where his meat-offering had been accepted, and sacrifice thereon his father’s second bullock of seven years old. With the assistance of his servants, Gideon during the night-time executed this commission, and on the morrow the townspeople were surprised to find that both altar and grove had disappeared. Enquiry led to the detection of the offender, and Joash was bidden to bring forth his son that he might be put to death for the sacrilege of which he had been guilty. But Joash replied with much irony that he was truly guilty of impiety who believed that Baal could not defend himself. Will ye take upon yourselves, said he, to plead Baal’s cause? let him plead for himself. A new name, which Gideon henceforth bore, Jerub-Baal, or the Tryer of Baal, attested the national acquiescence in the wisdom of his father’s reply (Judg. vi. 32).

ii. Tried and not found wanting in moral courage, Gideon was now directed to carry out the second part of his commission. Blowing a trumpet he first gathered around him his own clan of Abi-ezer, and then sending messengers throughout Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali199, invited the aid of these tribes against the common enemy. With characteristic caution, however, he requested a further sign from Jehovah before actually entering upon his arduous task. A double sign was vouchsafed to him. A fleece of wool, first dripping with dew while all the soil around was hot and dry, then dry while all the soil around was damp, convinced him that the Lord would indeed deliver Israel by his hand.

By this time upwards of 32,000 of his countrymen had gathered around him, and with this force he encamped on the slope of Gilboa, near the spring of Jezreel, henceforth known as the Spring of Harod or Trembling, overlooking the plain of Jezreel covered with the tents of the Midianites. But the host was too many and too great for God to give victory thereby. If they were successful with their present numbers they might vaunt that their own hand had saved them. Proclamation was, therefore, made that from the Spring of Trembling all who were afraid to persevere in their arduous enterprise might return to their homes. Of this permission 22,000 at once availed themselves and went their way. But another trial was to test the qualifications of the rest. By Divine command Gideon took the remaining 10,000 of his forces to the spring, and watched them as they asswaged their thirst. While all the rest bowed down upon their knees, three hundred putting their hand to their mouth, lapped of the water with their tongues as a dog lappeth (Judg. vii. 5, 6).

These three hundred Gideon set by themselves, the rest he sent away. Night now drew on, and with his little band, like the same famous number at Thermopylæ, he was left alone on the brow of the steep mountain which overlooks the vale of Jezreel, where Midian and Amalek and all the children of the east lay along like locusts for multitude, their camels gaily caparisoned, numerous as the sand on the seashore (Judg. vii. 12). To confirm the faith of Gideon in this great crisis, God now bade him, attended by Phurah his armour-bearer, drop down from the height where he was, and go to the host of his enemy. Accordingly the two crept down cautiously from rock to rock200 in the still night to the outskirts of the Midianitish tents, where Gideon overheard a man tell his fellow how he had dreamt a dream, and lo! a cake of common200 barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. To this recital the other replied, showing the reputation Gideon had gained even amongst his foes, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: into his hands hath God delivered Midian, and all the host (Judg. vii. 13, 14).

The Listener heard the dream and the interpretation, and straightway knew what he was to do. Returning up the mountain to his faithful three hundred, he divided them into three companies, and gave to every man a horn, an earthen pitcher, and a firebrand or torch201 (Judg. vii. 16, margin) to put therein. Then bidding them follow him, and do exactly as they saw him do, in the beginning of the middle watch he again stole down towards the outskirts of the tents of the Midianites, while the three companies following silently took their places every man round about the slumbering camp. Then Gideon and his company suddenly blew their horns, and at this signal 300 horns blew, 300 pitchers crashed, 300 torches blazed, and the always terrible war-cry of the Israelites, The Sword of Jehovah and of Gideon202, rent the midnight air. In a moment the Midianites and Amalekites were roused, and thrown into inextricable confusion and alarm. Amidst the blazing of so many torches, the crashing of so many pitchers, and the blast of so many trumpets all on different sides, they imagined themselves attacked by an enormous force. Filled with uncontrollable terror, they turned their swords against one another, and then rushed with one accord down the steep descent towards the Jordan eastward, to Beth-Shittah, the House of the Acacia, and Abel-Meholah, the Meadow of the Dance, hotly pursued not only by the three hundred, but some of the forces of Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh, now convinced amidst the returning light of day that Gideon had indeed achieved a great victory (Judg. vii. 23).

The Midianites hoped to reach the fords of Beth-barah immediately under the highlands of Ephraim. But Gideon had already sent messengers thither, and the Ephraimites were not slow to seize the fords and intercept the flying foe, but not before a considerable body had already crossed with the two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. But they were in time to capture the two inferior chiefs, Oreb and Zeeb, the one at a sharp cliff, the other at a winepress, where they slew them, and cutting off their heads hurried after Gideon, who with his three hundred was already on the other side of the Jordan, faint yet pursuing. Annoyed, now the victory was won, that they had not been summoned to join in the battle, the haughty Ephraimites chode with him, and manifested great resentment. With rare self-restraint the victorious Leader asked what after all he had done in comparison with them. Pointing to the bloody heads of the princes they had slain, he enquired whether the grapes Ephraim had already gleaned were not better than the entire vintage of his little clan of Abi-ezer. This soft answer turned away the wrath of the offended tribe, and the chase was renewed (Judg. viii. 1–3).

Two places on the track of the pursuit refused to befriend Gideon. The men of Succoth203 on the east of Jordan, near the ford of the torrent Jabbok, and of Penuel further up the mountains, declined to supply his nearly exhausted troops with bread, and mocked at him, when he said he was chasing the kings of Midian. Halting only to threaten them with vengeance on his return, he hurried on after the enemy. The victorious Israelites had already slain 120,000, but 15,000 with the two kings had reached Karkor, far from any towns in the open desert-wastes east of the Jordan. Here they thought themselves secure, but Gideon ascending from the valley of the Jordan burst upon them, put them to a complete rout, and at last captured the two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna.

Then in triumph the conqueror returned down the long defiles leading to the Jordan, followed by his cavalcade of captives mounted on their gaily decked camels (Judg. viii. 21). As he passed Penuel he razed to the ground its lofty watchtower, and slew the men of the city. Reaching Succoth he obtained from a young man of the place a description of its 77 head-men, and showed them the captive kings, and then “with the thorny branches of the neighbouring acacia-groves” he beat them to death. Then pushing westwards he reached his native Ophrah. There turning to the captive kings204 and at length revealing the secret of this long pursuit, he enquired what manner of men they were whom they had murdered on the green slopes of Tabor. As thou art, so were they, was the reply, each one resembled the children of a king. The remembrance of his brethren, the sons of his own mother, filled the warrior with wrath. Had they shown mercy to them, he would have spared his prisoners, but now that could not be. Summoning, therefore, his firstborn Jether, he bade him draw his sword and slay them. But the boy quailed before those mighty kings, and at their request Gideon himself took the sword and slew them, and gathered up the golden chains and crescent-shaped collars and trappings of their camels (Judg. viii. 18–21).

The immediate effect upon the nation of this deliverance was greater than that of any other. Not only had the country quietness for 40 years (Judg. viii. 28), not only did Gideon’s Altar, and the Spring of Trembling, and the rock Oreb (or the Raven’s Crag), and the winepress of Zeeb remain standing monuments of this great day, when God made like a wheel205, and drove over the uplands of Gilead as stubble before the wind (Ps. lxxxiii. 13, 14), like clouds of chaff blown from the summer threshing-floors, the proud people which had said, Let us take to ourselves the pastures of God in possession (Ps. lxxxiii. 12), but for the first time the Israelites offered hereditary royal dignity to the great conqueror. Rule thou over us, said they, both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s sons also. Gideon had the rare self-control to decline the flattering request. I will not rule over you, said he, neither shall my son rule over you; Jehovah shall rule over you. One request only and a strange one did he make of the grateful tribes, that they would give him the golden earrings and other ornaments they had taken from the conquered foe. Willingly into his cloak the people flung the ornaments, jewels, and chains from the camels’ necks to the weight of 1700 shekels, and with these Gideon made an ephod, and put it in his native Ophrah, and all Israel went a whoring after it, which thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his house. Though he declined the royal dignity, he was addicted to a royal failing. He multiplied wives and begat 70 sons, and after living to a good old age descended in peace to the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites206 (Judg. viii. 32).

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CHAPTER VI.

INVASION FROM THE SOUTH-WEST. SAMSON.
Judg. xiii.–xvi.   B.C. 1161–1120.

MEANWHILE the Philistines215 on the south-west had not only established themselves in the Shephelah, or Low Country, but now commenced that long and deadly hostility to the Israelites, which lasted from this time through the reigns of Saul and David, and was not finally terminated till the time of Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii. 8). Their oppressions naturally pressed most heavily on the little tribe of Dan, already hard pushed by the Amorites. From this tribe, then, the Deliverer came. But unlike others who had been called to the same office, he was specially set apart for it even before his birth.

On the high hill of Zorah overlooking the fertile lowlands of Philistia lived a Danite named Manoah. To his wife, who as yet had no child, it was announced by an Angel that she was about to become the mother of a son, whom she was to devote as a Nazarite216 unto God from his birth; no razor was ever to come upon his head; wine and strong drink he was never to touch; and he should commence the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines (Judg. xiii. 5). These words were announced to Manoah by his wife, and a second appearance of the Angel was vouchsafed to assure both parents of the certainty of these events, which was further confirmed, as in the case of Gideon, by the disappearance of the Angel in the flames which consumed the Danite’s meat-offering (Judg. xiii. 20).

In process of time the child was born, and was named Samson, either the sunlight, or the strong. As he grew, he became distinguished for supernatural strength, and from time to time in Mahanah-Dan, the camp of the famous Six Hundred of his tribe217, was moved to perform those exploits which made him the terror of the Philistines. His first action, however, when come to man’s estate, did not display that hostility to the national enemy which his parents would naturally have expected. At Timnath, then in the occupation of the Philistines, he saw one of the daughters of the place, whom he was resolved to marry. Very unwillingly did his father and mother give their consent, and went down from Zorah with their wayward son “through wild rocky gorges” to the vineyards of Timnath, situated, as was often the case, far from the village to which they belonged, and amidst rough wadies and wild cliffs218. In one of these Samson encountered a young lion, and, though he had nothing in his hand, rent it as he would have rent a kid. Thinking little of the circumstance, he did not mention it to his father and mother, but went with them to Timnath, and talked with the woman, and she pleased him well. On his second descent through the same wild rocky pass, he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion, and discovered amongst the bones a swarm of bees. A portion of the honey he took himself, and gave a portion to his parents, saying nothing of his exploit, or the place whence he had obtained the honey. The wedding festival was celebrated at Timnath, and lasted several days, on one of which the bridegroom put forth a riddle to his thirty Philistine “companions,” promising thirty sheets and thirty changes of garments to any that guessed it, but demanding the same of them if within the days of the feast they failed to discover it. The young men accepted the challenge, and Samson put forth his riddle, saying,

For three days the Philistine youths tried to unravel it, and failed. Then they beset Samson’s wife, and threatened to burn her and her father’s house, if she did not ascertain for them the interpretation. During the remaining days, therefore, she implored of Samson with tears the revelation of the secret. At first he was proof against her entreaties, but on the last day of the feast he told her, and she revealed it to the thirty Philistines, who came to him in the evening and said,

If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle was the giant’s brief reply, and going down to Ashkelon, one of the five cities of the lords of the Philistines, on the extreme southern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, he slew thirty men and of the spoil brought the stipulated reward.

Then in great wrath he returned to Zorah. But when wheat-harvest came round, his passion for the woman was somewhat rekindled, and he resolved to present her with a kid, and now learnt from her father for the first time, that, probably during his absence at Ashkelon, thinking he utterly hated her, he had bestowed her upon another. Thereupon Samson, being enraged, resolved to wreak his vengeance on the Philistines, and catching, probably in pitfalls and snares, 300 foxes, he fastened them tail to tail with lighted firebrands in the midst, and sent them into their cornfields, olive-yards, and vine-yards. Terrible was the mischief thus inflicted in a country, which even now, “in the summer months, is one sea of dead-ripe grain, dry as tinder219.” At length the Philistines ascertained who was the author of this destructive conflagration, and went to the house of his late wife, and burnt her and her father to death. Thereupon Samson avenged himself by inflicting upon them a great slaughter, and went and took up his abode on the lofty cliff of Etam, probably not very far from Bethlehem. Thither the Philistines pursued him, and demanded his surrender of the men of Judah. So utterly lost to all feelings of honour, so degraded from its former high estate was this tribe, that 3000 men actually scaled the rocky cliff, and brought Samson bound with two new cords to his enemies. On his approach, the Philistines raised a mighty shout. But at the moment supernatural strength was given to the captive. He burst his bonds as though they had been cords of flax burnt in the fire, and seizing the jawbone of an ass, and aided probably by the now inspirited Israelites, slew a thousand of the Philistines. In memory of this exploit, he named the place Ramath-Lehi (the casting away of the jawbone). Sore athirst after his exertions, he feared that from sheer exhaustion he might fall once more into the hands of his foes, but from a hollow place in Lehi God caused water to issue, and his spirit reviving he called the spot En-hakkore (the Spring of the crier) (Judg. xv. 16–19).

Samson is next found at Gaza (the strong), which though allotted to and conquered by Judah (Josh. xv. 47; Judg. i. 18) had fallen into the hands of the Philistines, who now encompassed the gate of the city, intending to capture him in the morning. But at midnight he arose, and taking the doors of the gate and the two posts, carried them, bar and all, to the top of the hill before Hebron. After this, he fell in love with Delilah, a Philistine courtesan, of the valley of Sorek, apparently near Gaza. This last amour led to his capture and death. For the enormous reward of 1100 pieces of silver from each lord, equivalent to 5500 shekels, the five lords of the Philistines persuaded her to undertake the task of discovering the secret of his great strength. Three times she importuned him to reveal the mystery, but he succeeded in putting her off with wiles. Green withes, new ropes, the binding of his seven clustering locks to the web, all these expedients were powerless to detain him prisoner, and he escaped with ease from the hands of the Philistines. The fourth time, however, she succeeded, and he told her all his heart, revealing the secret of his Nazarite vow. Accordingly, while he was asleep upon her knees, she caused the seven locks to be shaved off, and when he awoke the giant found that his strength had departed from him. The watching Philistines sprang into the chamber, took him, bored out his eyes, and brought him bound with brazen fetters to Gaza, where they made him grind in the prison-house (Judg. xvi. 21).

Then a day was fixed for a solemn festival in honour of Dagon, their national deity, half man and half fish220, to whom the deliverance of the nation from their dreaded foe was ascribed. In the midst of the feast, Samson was brought in to make sport for his unfeeling captors. The temple, where the festival was held, situated probably on a sloping hill, was full of men and women, and even on the roof upwards of 3000 were packed together. The blinded giant was led in by a lad, and at his own request was suffered to feel the pillars on which the temple stood. Standing there, he prayed that his old strength might for this once be restored to him, and that he might be enabled to wreak a complete revenge on his unfeeling enemies. Taking hold of the pillars with both hands, and praying that he might die with the Philistines, he bowed himself with all his might, and the temple walls fell in, and crushed the lords of the Philistines and the assembled crowd. Samson’s body was extricated from the ruins, and in sad procession was borne by his brethren and kinsmen “up the steep ascent to his native hills,” and laid between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial-place of Manoah his father (Judg. xvi. 31).

As Judge, Samson’s supremacy had lasted twenty years. The words of the Angel to his parents had declared that he should begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and in truth his work was only begun. Its completeness was marred chiefly by himself. “His acts were dictated mainly by caprice and the impulse of the moment; he frittered away the great powers which had been bestowed upon him, and forgot the Divine call which he had received. Still these incomplete results may in some measure be fairly ascribed to the character of his countrymen; they always permitted him to stand unaided and alone, and even surrendered him to the enemy221.” The work that he began needed a very different man to complete it, the spirit of the people needed renewal, and an internal reformation was essential.

Before recounting the means whereby this was brought about, the Sacred Narrative presents us with a little history, which strikingly illustrates the repose and peacefulness which characterized some of the calmer intervals in the disturbed period of the Judges. From Bethlehem-Judah there went forth during a season of famine222 two Ephrathites of the place, Elimelech and Naomi, with their sons Mahlon and Chilion, to seek a home across the Jordan in the land of Moab. Here Elimelech died, and his two sons married two of the daughters of Moab, Orpah and Ruth.

After a period of about ten years his sons also died, and Naomi hearing that the famine had ceased in the land of Israel, prepared to return to her native town accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, whom no entreaties could induce to remain amongst her own people. It was the beginning of barley-harvest223 when they returned, and Ruth went to glean near Bethlehem in the fields of Boaz, a man of wealth and a kinsman of Elimelech. The appearance and the story of the beautiful stranger, which he learnt from the townspeople, attracted the attention of Boaz to the Moabitess, and he permitted her not only to glean in his fields, but to share with his labourers the provisions supplied them. By the advice of her mother-in-law, Ruth afterwards claimed kinship with the wealthy Boaz, and he was not slow to acknowledge it. A nearer kinsman, however, was first asked to discharge these duties, which included not only the redemption of the land that had belonged to Elimelech, but also the taking of Ruth in marriage to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance (Deut. xxv. 5–10). On his declining to perform the latter duty, Boaz redeemed the land in the presence of ten elders of Bethlehem and the assembled people, and married Ruth, by whom he became the father of Obed, the grandfather of King David224.

A more pleasing picture of Hebrew country life can hardly be imagined than the story of “the gleaner Ruth,” illustrating, as it does, “the friendly relations between the good Boaz and his reapers, the Jewish land-system, the method of transferring property from one person to another, the working of the Mosaic Law for the relief of distressed and ruined families, but above all handing down the unselfishness, the brave love, the unshaken trustfulness of her, who though not of the chosen Race was, like the Canaanitess Tamar (Gen. xxxviii. 29; Matt. i. 3) and the Canaanitess Rahab (Matt. i. 5), privileged to become the ancestress of David, and so of great David’s greater Son” (Ruth iv. 18–22).

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CHAPTER I.

ELI AND SAMUEL.
1 Sam. i.–iv.   B.C. circ. 1171–1141.

DURING the twenty years that Samson judged Israel, the High-priesthood, diverted for reasons not revealed from the line of Eleazar to the younger line of Ithamar (1 Chron. vi. 4–15; xxiv. 4), had been filled by Eli, who henceforth appears to have discharged the united duties of High-priest and Judge. The Tabernacle with the Ark was now at Shiloh, where a town had rapidly grown up. Inside the gateway leading up to it was a “seat” or “throne” (1 Sam. i. 9; iv. 13), on which Eli used to sit, and thence survey the worshippers as they came up on high days to the Festivals.

Year by year, as he sat there, he would see amongst the pilgrims coming up to the Feast of Tabernacles the family of Elkanah, a man of Ramathaim-Zophim225 in Mount Ephraim. Though a Levite in the line of Kohath (1 Chron. vi. 27–34), he affords one of the few instances of polygamy in the ranks of the lower orders. By his wife Peninnah he had several children; by Hannah, his favourite wife, he had none, which was to her a source of much trouble, and brought down upon her many taunts from her rival. On one occasion, as Eli sat on his throne at the gate, he was led more particularly to notice one of this little family group. At the close of the sacrificial Feast, unable any longer to endure the mockery of her rival and her own bitterness of heart, Hannah remained long in silent prayer at the Sanctuary. The High-priest saw her lips move, but heard no sound of her voice, as she prayed. Thinking that she had indulged to excess at the feast, he rebuked her, and bade her put away her wine from her. Then Hannah told him of her secret grief, and the aged priest, convinced of his error, quickly made amends by bestowing upon her his blessing, and expressing a hope that the God of Israel might grant the petition she had preferred (1 Sam. i. 17).

The story of the wife of Manoah was, probably, not unknown to Hannah, and she too prayed that if the Lord would grant her a man-child, she would devote him as a Nazarite to His service all the days of his life. Her prayer was heard. Before the Feast of Tabernacles came round again, she had become the mother of a son, to whom she gave the appropriate name of Samuel, “the Asked or Heard of God.” When he was weaned, she brought him to Shiloh, with three bullocks, an ephah of flour, and a skin bottle of wine, and having poured forth her thankfulness in an inspired hymn, presented the boy to Eli, as the child for whom she had prayed, and whom she now wished to return to the Lord (1 Sam. ii. 1–11).

In striking contrast with the simplicity and innocence of the young child, who henceforth waited upon Eli, the two sons of that pontiff, Hophni and Phinehas were sons of Belial, they knew not the Lord. By their rapacity and lust they had filled all Israel with loathing and indignation, so that men abhorred the offering of the Lord. But Eli restrained them not, and, as years went on, their wickedness seemed only to increase in spite of his expostulations. It was a dark day in Israel, and their conduct gives us a terrible glimpse into the fallen condition of the chosen people (1 Sam. ii. 12–21).

Before long the first warning came to Eli. A man of God stood before him, and after reminding him of the high honour God had conferred upon him, when He chose him to be His priest, sternly rebuked him for honouring his sons above their Maker, and announced that instead of the office remaining in his family, its high functions should be transferred to another and more faithful line. And not only did he thus denounce distant punishment but an immediate and speedy pledge of it in the death on one day of both his sons (1 Sam. ii. 27–36).

But this warning produced no effect. Eli was old and greyheaded. However fitted he might have been once for the task of ruling his family, that day was gone by now. A second warning, therefore, of coming doom was now given him, not by the mouth of any stranger, but of the child, whom Hannah had left in the Tabernacle at Shiloh a loan unto the Lord. Clad in a white linen ephod, and the little mantle226 reaching to the feet, which his mother brought him from year to year, his long flowing hair betokening his Nazarite vow, Samuel ministered before Eli. The degraded state of the priesthood in the hands of Hophni and Phinehas had made intimations of the Divine Will rare and precious in those days, there was no open vision. But the Lord found a way to intimate the coming doom of Eli’s house. One night, when the aged priest had lain down to rest in one of the chambers hard by the Tabernacle, which was illumined only by the light of the seven-branched Golden Candlestick, in the early morning, before it was yet light, a Voice called Samuel and awoke him from his slumber. Thinking Eli had called him, he went to him, and enquired the cause. But Eli had not spoken, and bade him lie down again. He did so, and again the Voice pronounced his name. Once more he ran to the bed-side of the High-priest, who as before denied that he had called him, and told him to return to his bed. A third time the Voice pronounced his name, and then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child, and bade him, if he heard it again, reply, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. Samuel returned to his bed, and when the Voice called to him for the fourth time, answered as the aged priest had bidden him, and heard the purport of the mysterious call. The Lord was about to do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of him that heard it should tingle. Eli’s sons had made themselves vile, and he had not restrained them. For this iniquity his house was now to be judged and neither sacrifice nor offering could make atonement; when the Lord began, He would also make an end.

Until the sun was up, Samuel lay still, and forbore to tell Eli what he had heard. But the High-priest, whose conscience, doubtless, only too surely whispered what it was, bade him hide nothing from him. And then the old man, whose eyes were dim that he could not see, listened, while the child told him every whit. Death awaited his sons, beggary and desolation his family. It is the Lord, was his brief reply, let Him do what seemeth Him good, and in the course of time the warning was fulfilled. As Samuel grew, the Lord began to reveal Himself more and more to him. The influence of Eli, already weakened, now dwindled from day to day. He “decreased” and Samuel “increased,” and the Lord was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground, so that all Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, knew that he was established to be a Prophet, a revealer of the Divine Will (1 Sam. iii. 19–21).

Meanwhile the strength of the Philistines had recovered from the wounds it had received from the champion of Dan. Advancing their forces to Aphek, no great distance from the fortress of Jebus, they attacked the Israelites, and inflicted on them a loss of 4,000 men. Alarmed at this reverse, the Israelites resolved to fetch the Ark and take it into battle, that it might save them out of the hands of their enemies. The sacred symbol was thereupon removed from the curtains that enclosed it, and the two sons of Eli accompanied it to the field. A great shout, so that the earth rang again, greeted its arrival in the Israelite camp, and the Philistines alarmed at the proximity of the mighty Gods, that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues, resolved to sell their lives dear, rather than become subject to their enemies. Again, therefore, the battle was joined, and Israel sustained a still more disastrous defeat. Upwards of 30,000 were slain, amongst whom were Eli’s sons, and worse than all, the Ark of God was taken (1 Sam. iv. 11).

On his elevated “seat” by the wayside Eli sat to receive any tidings from the battle-field, his heart trembling for the sacred Symbol of which he was the guardian. As the day closed, a young man of the tribe of Benjamin came running into the town of Shiloh. His clothes were rent, his hair sprinkled with dust. A wail of lamentation arose from the people, who no sooner saw him thus attired, than they knew how the day had gone. Eli heard the noise of the tumult, and enquired the cause. I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to-day out of the army, said the young man. And what is there done, my son? enquired the pontiff. Israel is fled before the Philistines, was the reply, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people—and thy two sons, also, Hophni and Phinehas are dead—and the Ark of God is taken. No sooner did the last part of his terrible tidings fall from his mouth, than the aged priest fell from his seat backwards, and his neck brake, and he died. Ninety-eight summers had passed over his head, and forty years he had judged Israel, and now his doom was come. But still another death was to mark that dreadful day. The wife of Phinehas was near to be delivered of her second child. The news reached her that her husband and her father-in-law were dead, that Israel had been defeated, that the Ark had been taken. She bowed her head, the pangs of childbirth came upon her, a son was born, and the women that stood by tried to cheer her fainting spirits. But in vain. The Ark of God was taken, that was all her mind could realize. With her last breath she gave the child a name that should be a memorial of that fearful day. Call him Ichabod, she said, The glory is departed from Israel227 (1 Sam. iv. 12–22).

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CHAPTER III.

ELECTION OF THE FIRST KING.
1 Sam. ix.   B.C. 1095.

THE elders of Israel had not long to wait for the king they so earnestly desired. Shortly after Samuel’s return to Ramah he received Divine intimation that on the morrow one would be sent him, whom he was to anoint to be captain over the Lord’s people. Accordingly the next day, as he was on his way to the high place to give his benediction at a sacrificial feast, he met two wayfaring men. One was a man of Benjamin, Saul the son of Kish, of a noble and handsome mien and gigantic stature, from his shoulders and upward higher than any of the people; the other was his servant. In quest of the asses of Saul’s father, which had strayed, the two had been traversing without success the central region of Palestine, and now guided by certain maidens of Ramah, whom they had met at the entrance of the place going out to draw water, they had resolved to ask the advice of Samuel.

The Prophet had already noticed the tall handsome stranger, and as he drew near the Divine Voice assured him that he was the destined Ruler of His people (1 Sam. ix. 15, 16). When, therefore, Saul enquired for the Seer’s house, Samuel not only declared that he was the person he sought, but revealed his mysterious acquaintance with the secret of his three days’ journey, and bade him lay aside all further anxiety, for the asses were found. Then, turning to Saul, he added in yet more mysterious words, On whom is the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father’s house? Marvelling at the import of this significant question addressed to one who belonged to the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and whose family was the least of all the families of Benjamin (1 Sam. ix. 21), Saul followed the Prophet to the high place, where with his servant he was made to sit in the chiefest place among the thirty guests assembled at the sacrificial feast, and to partake of a special portion which had been reserved for him.

Thence he returned to the town, and in the evening held further conversation with Samuel on the house-top of his dwelling. Next morning at daybreak Samuel roused his guest, and accompanied him some little way to the end of the town. There the servant was bidden to pass on, and the two being left alone the Prophet taking a phial of oil poured it on Saul’s head, and kissed him, and assured him of his election to be the first King of Israel. To this assurance he added prophetic intimations of incidents which would occur on Saul’s return homewards, and which could not fail still further to confirm him in the conviction that his sudden elevation was indeed of the Lord. Two men would meet him at Rachel’s sepulchre, and inform him that the asses were found, and that his father’s anxieties now centred on himself; at the “plain,” or rather the “oak” of Tabor (1 Sam. x. 3) he would meet three men going to Bethel carrying gifts of kids, bread, and a skin bottle of wine; they would salute him, and offer him two loaves of bread, which he was to receive at their hand; then, thirdly, on reaching the hill of God, probably Gibeah, where the Philistines had posted a garrison, he would meet a company of the prophets coming down from the high place with psaltery, tabret, pipe, and harp, whose inspired strains would so affect him that he would join himself to them, and be turned into another man. After the fulfilment of these three signs, he was to go to Gilgal, and there tarry seven days till Samuel’s arrival to offer sacrifices, and tell him what he should do (1 Sam. x. 8). Then the two men parted, each of the three signs came to pass, and God gave the son of Kish another heart. Convinced of his call to inaugurate the kingly period of Israel’s history, his soul rose to the greatness of the occasion; the strains of the prophetic choir so wrought upon his spirit that he felt inspired to join them, and his appearance in their society became the occasion of a well-known proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets? (1 Sam. x. 12).

Meanwhile Samuel convened all the people to Mizpeh of Benjamin, and after again rebuking them for their want of faith in thus hastily seeking a change of government, bade them present themselves before the Lord by their tribes and by their thousands, in order that the sacred lot might decide the election of the king. In solemn order the tribes passed before him, and the lot fell upon that of Benjamin. Then the same ceremony was successively repeated with the clans, the families, the individuals, and in a manner that none could dispute, it was indicated that Saul the son of Kish was the object of the Divine choice. But when search was made for him, he was not to be found. Still unwilling to accept the arduous duties of the kingdom, he had concealed himself in the circle of baggage round the encampment at Mizpeh. The search was renewed, and he was brought forth from his hiding-place. As he advanced into the midst his exalted stature struck the spectators with admiration, and a universal shout of Long live the King betokened the nation’s acceptance of its new head (1 Sam. x. 24).

Left to themselves, the Israelites would, doubtless, have stood committed to the new form of government, without pausing to insist on any conditions from their Ruler, well content if he proved as absolute and irresponsible as those of the nations round about. But the far-seeing Samuel was wiser than they. Well knowing the bearing of the transactions of that day on the nation’s future, he not only expounded to the people the manner of the kingdom as set forth by their great Lawgiver in the Book of Deuteronomy (xvii. 14–20), but for the sake of greater security committed the regulations thus accepted to writing, and laid them up in safe keeping before the Lord, and thus, “under Divine sanction, and amidst the despotisms of the East, arose the earliest example of a constitutional monarchy234.”

This ceremony concluded, the people returned to their homes, and Saul retired to Gibeah. Though his elevation had been thus formally approved, there were not wanting those who, on the score, probably, of the obscurity of his tribe, and the fact that his capacities were as yet unknown, expressed much dissatisfaction at his promotion, questioned his ability to rule them, and brought him none of the usual presents (1 Sam. x. 27). With rare self-control, however, he held his peace, and in a short time was enabled to justify the confidence that had been reposed in him.

While living in retirement at Gibeah, he received intelligence which roused all his martial ardour, and for the first time revealed his talents as a military leader. The Ammonites, recovered from the defeat they had sustained from Jephthah, had under the leadership of their king Nahash laid siege to Jabesh-gilead (See Judg. xxi. 8), the inhabitants of which place in their terror invited the heathen king to make a covenant with them, and agreed to serve him. This, with characteristic haughtiness he declined, except on the condition that he might put out their right eyes, and thus render them unfit for further military service. In this strait, the elders of the place requested seven days’ respite, and meanwhile sent messengers to their brethren imploring assistance. Saul was driving his herd homewards from the field, when the sound of wild lamentation in his native town revealed the danger which threatened the friendly235 town of Jabesh-gilead. Immediately the Spirit of the Lord came upon him (1 Sam. xi. 6), filling him with courage and resolution for the emergency. Taking a yoke of oxen, he hewed them in pieces, and sent this war-token throughout all the tribes, summoning them under pain of eternal disgrace to rally round himself and Samuel and hasten to the rescue of their brethren. He then bade the messengers return to Jabesh-gilead with the assurance of succour, before the sun was hot on the morrow. His determined spirit quickly communicated itself to others, and 300,000 from Israel, and 30,000 from Judah gathered round him and the Prophet. Bezek, a place apparently within a day’s march of Jabesh, was appointed their head-quarters, and thence dividing his forces into three companies Saul executed a swift night-march, and burst upon the Ammonites in the morning watch, who panic-stricken by this unexpected onslaught were defeated with enormous loss, so that not two of them were left together (1 Sam. xi. 11).

This signal success had an instantaneous effect upon the people. The Israelites hailed Saul as the deliverer of their country, and even proposed to put to death those who had not at first acknowledged him as king. With continued self-command, however, he calmed their zeal, and declined to stain with innocent blood the memory of a day, on which, as he said with becoming modesty, not he but Jehovah had wrought salvation in Israel. At this juncture, the new ruler having been tried and not found wanting, Samuel suggested that the people should once more repair to Gilgal, and there renew the kingdom. Accordingly after the sacrifice of peace-offerings and amidst great rejoicings Saul was solemnly inaugurated in his regal functions, while Samuel embraced the opportunity afforded by so large a gathering to bid farewell to the people he had ruled so prudently with all his power (1 Sam. xii.). He had hearkened, he said, to their voice; he had made a king over them. For himself, he was old and grey-headed, he had walked before them from his childhood unto that day. Let them now testify if they had ought against him. Had he defrauded any? Had he oppressed any? Had he taken any bribe to blind his eyes? If so, he would make ample restoration. With one voice the whole people bore witness to the integrity and uprightness of his public life. Then, like Moses and Joshua, he gave them his parting counsels, and after exhorting them by the memory of past mercies and past deliverances to cleave fast to the Lord, and not forsake His commandments, called on the Lord Himself to ratify his words by an outward and visible sign. It was the season of wheat-harvest236, when thunder and rain seldom or never occurred. But at the word of Samuel, the sky became black with clouds, the thunder rolled and the rain fell, bearing witness to the solemnity of the Prophet’s warnings; who having thus bidden farewell to the people, henceforth retired from any share in the government, which now devolved on Saul alone.

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CHAPTER IV.

THE BATTLE OF MICHMASH.
1 Sam. xiii. xiv.   B.C. 1093–1087.

IN dismissing Saul from Ramah after their first interview, Samuel, it will be remembered, had told him that he would pass a garrison of the Philistines (1 Sam. x. 5; xiii. 3) Recovering from their defeat at Ebenezer this people had again renewed their old hostilities, and pitched in the heart of the mountains of Benjamin. Two years after his accession (1 Sam. xiii. 1), Saul resolved to throw off a yoke which pressed so severely on the neighbourhood of his native place. Gathering round him a small standing army of 3,000 men, he placed 1,000 under the command of his valiant son Jonathan at Geba237, while he himself with 2,000 took up a position at Michmash (Mŭkhmas) about 7 miles north of Jerusalem, and along the ridge of intervening heights in the direction of Bethel. Either at or close to Jonathan’s position was posted a garrison of the Philistines. For some time the rival forces stood watching one another, and at length Jonathan in a fit of youthful ardour fell upon the garrison, and put it to flight.

Tidings of this event quickly reached the Philistines in their rich southern plains, who forthwith swarmed with a vast force up through the passes of Benjamin, while Saul retired to Gilgal, and there summoned a general gathering of the nation. But in face of the enormous masses of their foes, the Israelites, seized with a sudden panic, as in the days of Gideon (Judg. vi. 2), fled for refuge to the natural hiding-places of the country, to the dens, the inaccessible fastnesses, and the caves with which it abounded, while some even crossed the Jordan into the territory of Gad and Gilead (1 Sam. xiii. 7).

The Philistines now in their turn occupied Michmash, and their oppression of the Israelites was most grievous. A regular disarmament was carried out, so that none of the Hebrews had sword or spear save the king and his son, and their immediate retainers; nay, the very smiths were removed, and the Hebrews were constrained to go down to their enemies to get their agricultural implements sharpened. In this terrible crisis Saul sent messages from Gilgal to Samuel at Ramah, who promised within seven days to join the king and celebrate solemn sacrifices, preparatory, probably, to some concerted plan of action. But the days passed away, and Samuel came not. The Philistines were collecting in constantly increasing numbers at Michmash, and the terrified Israelites dropped off more and more, leaving their king with barely 600 followers. The present posture of affairs imperatively demanded prudence and caution, and from Samuel the king would, doubtless, have learnt the Divine will, and He, who had enabled Gideon with only 300 men to conquer even more numerous foes, would have opened up some mode of deliverance. But Samuel came not, and Saul, unable to restrain his impatience, resolved to offer the sacrifices himself. He had scarcely done so when the Prophet arrived and sternly rebuked him for his impetuous zeal. Thou hast done foolishly, said he, thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, and he proceeded to intimate that the kingdom, which might have been established in his family, would not continue, but would be transferred to another (1 Sam. xiii. 11–14).

Meanwhile the Philistines continued their oppressive and tyrannical exactions. Roving bands from their camp went forth in three directions238, and committed disastrous depredations, while from the heights, where they were encamped, Saul and Jonathan, at the head of their little band, looked down upon a ravaged and terror-stricken country, unable and afraid to lift a hand against its oppressors. At length Jonathan resolved to strike another blow. Between the Israelite position at Geba and the Philistine garrison at Michmash was a distance of about three miles, part of which consisted of a deep gorge, running between two sharp jagged rocks, the one called Bozez (Shining), probably from the white chalky cliffs, the other Seneh (the Thorn or Acacia), so called probably from some solitary acacia on its summit. Above this gorge239 was the Philistine garrison. Without informing his father, or communicating his design to any one, except the young man his armour-bearer, Jonathan resolved to ascend the steep sides of the ravine, and then to take the conduct of the enemy as an omen for further operations. If the Philistines came forth and threatened an attack, they would remain in the valley; if they challenged them to advance, they would take this as an augury of success, and press on. Upon their hands and feet, then, the two climbed up, and at length were detected by the Philistines. Behold, they cried in derision, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes, where they have hid themselves. Come up and we will shew you a thing. The omen was favourable, and the two pressed on.

Strong as a lion, and swift as an eagle (2 Sam. i. 23), Jonathan no sooner reached the summit than he rushed upon his unexpecting foes, and aided by his armour-bearer, slew at the first onset upwards of twenty men. Thereupon a sudden and uncontrollable panic seized the garrison and spread to the camp, and even the marauding hordes in the neighbourhood. A simultaneous earthquake (1 Sam. xiv. 15) increased the confusion, and when Saul’s watchmen at Gibeah looked towards the opposite end of the gorge of Michmash, they beheld the multitudes melting away, going and beating down one another. Unable to explain the cause of this sudden movement, the king ordered the High-priest Ahiah to enquire who had left the Israelite camp. On ascertaining that Jonathan was leading an attack upon the enemy, he would have a second time consulted the ark of God, but while he was talking, the noise in the Philistine host grew louder and louder. On this he bade the High-priest stay his enquiries, and putting himself at the head of his 600 followers, he rushed up the defile, and on reaching the opposite side found that a general panic had seized the foe, every man’s hand was against his fellow, and there was a great discomfiture (1 Sam. xiv. 20).

It was the signal for a general rising. Even the Israelites in the Philistine camp turned against their captors, and were quickly joined by others of their brethren, who till now had remained concealed in the mountains of Ephraim. Onwards the pursuit swept over the high ground of Bethel and down the pass of Beth-horon to Ajalon240. In the excitement of the hour, and carried away by that rash impetuosity which henceforth seemed to mar all his actions, Saul cried to heaven, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged of mine enemies (1 Sam. xiv. 24). He had not yet encountered his heroic son, and the fasting people were spent and wearied. Soon the pursuit lay through a forest bedewed in divers places with the droppings of wild honey. Overcome with his exertions, which had brought such glory to the nation, and unaware of his father’s rash adjuration, Jonathan put forth the end of his staff into a honeycomb, and therewith refreshed his parched lips. An Israelite saw what he had done, and revealed the terms of the royal curse. My father hath troubled the land, said he, and once more mingled in the pursuit (1 Sam. xiv. 24–32).

The day must now have been far advanced, and the host utterly unable to endure any longer the enforced fast flew upon the spoil, and taking sheep and oxen slew them on the ground, devouring the fresh carcases even with the blood241. When the news of this infraction of the law was announced to Saul, he directed that a large stone should be set up to serve as a kind of altar. Still eager and impetuous, late as it was, he wished to continue the pursuit and to spoil the Philistines till the morning light. The more prudent Ahiah suggested that the Divine Will should first be ascertained. Arrayed in his ephod (1 Sam. xiv. 3), he consulted, probably, the “Breastplate of Judgment242,” while the king enquired of the Lord, Shall I go down after the Philistines? Wilt Thou deliver them into the hand of Israel? But no answer was vouchsafed, the Oracle was dumb. Suspecting there was something to intercept the Divine response, Saul proposed to ascertain the cause by appealing to the sacred lot, exclaiming with all his former rashness, As the Lord liveth, though the sin be found in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. In solemn silence the chiefs of the host divided; Saul and Jonathan stood on one side, the people on the other. The lot was cast, and it was ascertained that the sin lay between the king and his son. Again the lot was cast, and this time Jonathan was taken. Adjured by his father, the youthful conqueror confessed that with his staff he had taken and eaten some honey. Saul declared he would abide by his vow, and Jonathan would have fallen a victim to the royal rashness, had not the people interfered. With a determination he dared not oppose, they declared that not one hair of his head should fall to the ground. Thus Jonathan was saved; and Saul returned to his native hills, and the Philistines, defeated and disgraced, to their fertile lowlands (1 Sam. xiv. 24–46).

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CHAPTER VI.

DAVID’S LIFE AS AN OUTLAW.
1 Sam. xviii.–xxiii.   B.C. 1063–1061.

THE victory over Goliath was the turning-point in David’s life. He was now no longer the obscure shepherd of Bethlehem, but the recognised deliverer of Israel, and the chief of Saul’s men of war (1 Sam. xviii. 5). Moreover he now became the devoted friend of Jonathan, the king’s son. The hero of Michmash would naturally sympathise with the daring shepherd of Bethlehem, and his soul was knit with the soul of David (1 Sam. xviii. 1; Comp. 2 Sam. i. 26). The two ratified a solemn vow of undying friendship, and Jonathan bestowed on his new-found friend almost every article of his attire, not only the costly robe that he wore, but even his sword, his bow, and his girdle (1 Sam. xviii. 4).

But the hour of David’s triumph was the signal for the commencement of those embittered relations which subsisted between him and Saul till the day of the latter’s death. As the royal party returned from the Valley of Elah, they were met by companies of Hebrew maidens, who in their songs expressed the discerning feelings of the nation, singing, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. To the king this was gall and wormwood; in the youthful warrior he saw that other more worthy than himself, for whom the kingdom was designed, and he eyed him from that day and forward (1 Sam. xviii. 9).

As the king’s armour-bearer David did not neglect his musical talents, and when Saul’s fits of madness were upon him he soothed him with the strains of his harp. But more than once he did so at the peril of his life, for in a sudden paroxysm of rage the king flung at him the long spear he held in his hand, and would have pinned him to the wall, had he not escaped out of his presence (1 Sam. xviii. 11). Perceiving that the Divine favour was withdrawn from himself, Saul now became afraid of David, and in the hope of getting rid of him gave him the command of a thousand men (1 Sam. xviii. 13), and sent him on several expeditions; but David’s uniform success and the prudence he displayed only won for him still more the favour of the people. The king then tried other expedients. He promised him his eldest daughter Merab in marriage, on condition that he fought against the Philistines. David went, and instead of falling in battle, only covered himself with fresh glory, but when the time for the marriage came, Merab was given to another (1 Sam. xviii. 19).

Meanwhile Michal, the king’s second daughter, had fallen in love with her father’s armour-bearer. As if to bring his previous designs to a positive fulfilment, Saul named as her dowry proof that David had slain a hundred of the Philistines. At the head of his men David went, and slew twice that number, and brought the required proofs of their death. The marriage was celebrated, and David became captain of the royal body-guard, second only, if not equal, to Abner. But the king’s jealousy of his successful rival was only the more increased, and he went so far as to propose to Jonathan and his servants that David should be put out of the way, and was only dissuaded by the moving intercession of Jonathan himself. A partial reconciliation with the king ensued, and David returned to court. But his life was not more secure. On one occasion his own vigilance in eluding the royal javelin, on another the devotion of his wife Michal, alone saved his life. On the last occasion, the officers charged to put him to death had actually penetrated into his chamber, but only to find in the bed, in place of the object of their search, an image, or household god, with the head enveloped in a net of goats’ hair249. During the night his wife had let him down from the window. (Comp. Ps. lix.)

David now fled away to Naioth250, the huts or habitations near Ramah, where he enjoyed a brief respite from danger and anxiety in the congenial society of the aged Samuel, whom he had not seen since the occurrence at Bethlehem, and of the company of prophets there gathered together under his superintendence. News of his hiding-place reached the ears of Saul, who forthwith sent messengers to take him. But the sight of the prophets performing their sacred functions under the eye of the venerable Samuel and their strains of sacred melody so wrought upon the messengers, that they could not refrain from joining in their religious exercises. A similar issue attended a second, and even a third deputation. At length Saul went in person to the great well or cistern of Sechu, not far from Ramah, and enquired for the Prophet and the fugitive. But as he drew near the place, he himself could not resist the prophetic impulse, and for the second time justified the enquiry, Is Saul also among the prophets? (1 Sam. xix. 24).

Thus the danger was for the time averted. But this state of suspense was intolerable, and David felt there was but a step between him and death. Probably by Samuel’s advice, he now obtained a secret interview with Jonathan at Ezel, a well-known stone near Gibeah. In pathetic language he poured out his whole soul to his friend, and besought him to make an effort to ascertain once for all the real feelings of his father, which he might think had undergone a change after the incidents at Naioth. The morrow was a festival of the New Moon. Saul would hold a solemn feast, and at his table would sit Abner and Jonathan, but David’s place would be vacant. The demeanour of the king on observing his absence was to be taken as an omen. If he acquiesced in Jonathan’s explanation that David was absent at a similar festival under the family roof at Bethlehem, all would be well. If he was wroth, then it would be certain that the old grudge was not healed, and that evil was determined against him. A solemn compact was then ratified between the two. Jonathan undertook to ascertain his father’s mind; David promised to shew kindness not only to Jonathan himself, but to all his posterity (1 Sam. xx. 5–10).

When this compact had been duly ratified, Jonathan suggested an expedient, whereby the news was to be made known to David. Within three days he would again repair to the “great stone” with his bow and arrows, and accompanied by a little lad. He would then shoot three arrows, as though he shot at a mark, and his words to the lad, which David would overhear, must decide the point. If he said to the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them, then David might come forth, and know that all was well. If he said, The arrows are beyond thee, then he might go his way, certain that the wrath of the king could not be appeased. The day came, and David repaired to his hiding-place. In due time Jonathan and his little lad appeared, and the three arrows were shot as agreed upon, and as the lad ran to pick them up, he cried, Is not the arrow beyond thee? Then David knew that he must fly, and, when the lad was gone to carry back the bow and arrows to Gibeah, rose from his hiding-place, and with passionate embraces and many tears parted from his friend, who once more commended his posterity to his care (1 Sam. xx. 35–42).

David now betook himself to Nob, a sacerdotal city in the tribe of Benjamin, and situated on an eminence near Jerusalem. Here the High-priest Ahimelech resided with the Tabernacle, and trembled when he saw the captain-general of the royal troops approaching alone, and unattended by his usual retinue. But David disarmed his suspicions by pretending a secret mission from the king, and in this character obtained, in the failure of other bread, the sacred251 loaves of Shew-bread, which having served their turn in the weekly course, were about to be replaced by new loaves. With these and the sword of Goliath, which was brought forth from its receptacle behind the ephod, he fled away, resolved to seek refuge amongst his enemies the Philistines252.

On his arrival at the court of Achish, king of Gath, he was recognised by the royal guards as the famous champion of Israel, and the sword he carried doubtless recalled bitter memories of the Valley of Elah. He was accordingly thrown into prison253. But in this dilemma he changed his behaviour, scrabbled on the doors of the gates, let his spittle fall upon his beard, and gave every sign of being insane. The oriental respect for madness254 procured him his release, and he was suffered to depart.

From the Lowlands of the Philistines he now betook himself to the town of Adullam (Josh. xv. 35), at the foot of the mountain-range of Judea, and found a secure retreat in one of the extensive caves, with which the limestone cliffs of the neighbourhood are pierced255. News of his coming reached Bethlehem (1 Sam. xxii. 1), and straightway his brethren and all his father’s house, feeling perhaps insecure from Saul’s vengeance, came down to his stronghold from the Judean hills. These probably included his nephews, the sons of Zeruiah, Joab and Abishai; but besides these, were 400 men who joined him from various motives, some from distress, others to avoid exacting creditors, others from some private sorrow. Not considering, however, his aged father and mother secure even in this secluded spot, David hastily crossed the Jordan, and conveyed them into the friendly territory of Moab, and there consigned them to the king, who agreed to protect them (1 Sam. xxii. 3, 4).

By the advice of his friend the prophet Gad, he now retired to the forest of Hareth, not far from Adullam. It was probably while he was here in hold that the sons of Zeruiah performed the memorable exploit recorded in 2 Sam. xxiii. 14–17, 1 Chr. xi. 16–19. A garrison of the Philistines had established themselves even in David’s native town of Bethlehem. One day, sorely tried by thirst, he expressed a longing for the delicious water of its well near the gate. Upon the word the three heroes burst through the Philistine forces, and returned with the much-coveted draught256. But their leader would not drink of the blood of the men that had gone in jeopardy of their lives, and poured it forth as a libation before the Lord.

Other bands now joined him. Amongst these were eleven mighty men, their faces like the faces of lions, their feet as swift as the roes upon the mountains (1 Chr. xii. 8), from the uplands of Gad beyond Jordan, who swam that river when it had overflowed all its banks (1 Chr. xii. 15), and found their way to his hold. They were followed by men, not only from the tribe of Judah, but from that of Benjamin, with their chief Amasai. This defection of members of Saul’s own tribe at first excited David’s suspicion, but the straightforward, honest words of their leader convinced him of their sincerity, and he associated them in the command of his band of six hundred faithful followers (1 Chr. xii. 16–18).

Meanwhile the Philistines attacked Keilah, a town of uncertain situation in the lowland district of Judah, and robbed the threshing-floors. At first David’s men, in spite of a Divine assurance of success, feared to relieve the place, and so incur the hostility of their powerful foe. A second assurance restored their courage. Keilah was rescued, and the Philistines defeated with great slaughter. Whilst here David was joined by another and an important ally in the person of Abiathar, the son of the high-priest Ahimelech, bearing sad intelligence. On the day of David’s visit to Nob, there was a stranger watching intently all that took place between him and the high-priest. This was Doeg, an Edomite, and the chief of Saul’s herdmen (1 Sam. xxi. 7). When the king was deploring at Gibeah the defection even of his own tribe, Doeg poured into the royal ear his version of what had occurred at Nob. Transported with rage the king sent for Ahimelech, and all the priests of the line of Ithamar, and charged them with befriending his enemies. In vain the high-priest repelled the charge. Saul sentenced the entire body of the priests to instant death, and gave the signal to his guard to execute it. But they declined to imbrue their hands in such a bloody murder. Thereupon he called on Doeg, who straightway obeyed, and falling upon the unresisting priests slew in one day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. Not content with this, the king put the entire population of the place to the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings (1 Sam. xxii. 19). Such was the sad news which the solitary survivor of the house of Ithamar now announced to David. I knew it, replied the latter, I knew it, that day when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul; I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father’s house257. From this day forward Abiathar remained with David, and having brought with him the high-priest’s ephod, was enabled by his oracular answers materially to aid David’s movements on occasions of difficulty or danger. Meanwhile the entry of his rival into a town that had gates and bars (1 Sam. xxiii. 7) inspired Saul with the hope of at length capturing David. Summoning his forces, as if for a regular military expedition, he marched down to Keilah, to besiege him and his followers. Aware of the king’s secret designs, David consulted the Divine Will by means of the ephod, and thus ascertaining the intention of the townspeople to betray him, he and his men departed, and went whithersoever they could (1 Sam. xxiii. 13).

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CHAPTER I.

DAVID’S REIGN AT HEBRON.
2 Sam. ii.–iv.   B.C. 1055–1048.

THE hour which the prophet of Ramah had long ago foretold was now come. The long period of trial and discipline was over. The brave shepherd, the conqueror of Goliath, the daring but prudent leader of attached followers was the only one left, to whom the Israelites could look for guidance in this great crisis of their national history.

But though the way was open, David did not enter upon it without seeking the Divine direction. Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? he enquired of the Lord; and the Lord bade him go up to Hebron, “the ancient sacred city of the tribe of Judah, the burial-place of the patriarch274, and the inheritance of Caleb275.” Accordingly, leaving Ziklag, he repaired thither with his two wives Ahinoam and Abigail, and his faithful band of six hundred; and there the chiefs of Judah, now after a long period of obscurity to become the ruling tribe, anointed him as their king. His first act after his accession was to thank the men of Jabesh-Gilead for their bravery in removing the corpses of Saul and his sons from the walls of Beth-shan (2 Sam. ii. 1–7).

Of the family of the late king there now remained only Ishbosheth his youngest son, and Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, a child but five years old. Ishbosheth, according to the law of Oriental succession, ascended the throne, and, under the protection of his kinsman, the powerful Abner, established his kingdom at the ancient sanctuary of Mahanaim276 on the east of the Jordan, ruling over not only the eastern tribes, but the territory of Asher, the plain of Esdraelon, central Ephraim, his own tribe of Benjamin, and eventually over all Israel (2 Sam. ii. 9), excepting only Judah, which remained faithful to David.

The first of many skirmishes between the rival kings took place at Gibeon, to the heights of which, in their native Benjamin, Abner and his forces went out from Mahanaim (2 Sam. ii. 12). Thither also, as if to watch their movements, repaired the three nephews of David, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. On the east side of the hill of Gibeon, at the foot of a low cliff, was a large pool or tank, on either side of which the rival forces encamped, and, as if to try their respective strength, Abner proposed that a select body from both sides should engage in combat. Joab accepted the challenge, and twelve picked champions of the party of Ishbosheth met an equal number of the warriors of David277. The struggle was desperate; each combatant caught his fellow by the head, and thrust his sword into his side, and thus all fell dead together on a spot henceforth called Helkath-hazzurim, the Field of Heroes. This brought on a general engagement, in which the forces of Ishbosheth were defeated, and Abner himself was fain to fly hotly pursued by Asahel, the youngest of David’s nephews, and as light of foot as a wild roe (2 Sam. ii. 18). Abner recognised his fleet pursuer, and advised him to desist from the chase. But the youth, heeding not, pressed on, and Abner, turning back upon him, thrust him through with a spear.

The bleeding corpse lay in the middle of the road, and was quickly surrounded by the men of Judah, who as they came up stood still in mournful astonishment (2 Sam. ii. 23). But the sight of their brother’s body only roused Joab and Abishai to greater fury, and they pursued after Abner as far as the hill of Ammah, by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon, which they reached at sunset. There the men of his own tribe of Benjamin rallied round the general of Ishbosheth, and stood on the top of the hill, while he cried to the pursuing Joab, and implored him not to push matters further. On this Joab gave the signal for a cessation of the pursuit, and drew off his men, and conveying his brother’s corpse to Bethlehem, laid it in the ancestral tomb. Then at daybreak he rejoined David at Hebron, to whom he announced the loss of only 19 men in the late encounter. Meanwhile Abner returned to Mahanaim, whence he carried on a series of petty wars with the adherents of David, in which David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker (2 Sam. iii. 1).

In the course of time a quarrel with his kinsman and general precipitated the fall of Ishbosheth. Abner had married Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, and a concubine of Saul. According to the notions of Orientals, this very nearly amounted to treason (Comp. 2 Sam. xvi. 21; xx. 3; 1 K. ii. 13–25), and as such Ishbosheth flung it in the teeth of his general. Abner replied in words of utmost anger and reproaching Ishbosheth with the basest ingratitude, straightway began to open communications with David, who agreed to receive him at Hebron, on condition that Michal, his former wife, was restored to him. This condition was complied with, and after sounding the chiefs of Israel and of his own tribe, Abner with twenty men came to David at Hebron. A feast greeted his arrival, and he departed with the avowed intention of gathering all Israel unto his lord the king (2 Sam. iii. 17–21).

He had hardly departed from the royal presence, when Joab returned from a foray, and was informed of this unexpected visit. Jealous probably of a possible rival, and burning with rage against his brother’s murderer, he remonstrated in no measured terms with David for his imprudence, as he termed it, in admitting the general of Ishbosheth to an audience and sending him away in peace. Then, unknown to the king, he sent messengers after Abner to call him back. Not suspecting treachery the latter returned to Hebron, and, as he entered the gate, Joab took him aside, and stabbed him to death, as he had stabbed his brother Asahel. News of this cruel and treacherous deed roused David’s unbounded indignation. Unable to punish the assassin, he imprecated on the house of Joab the most fearful curses, and compelled him to attend the funeral of his murdered victim, robed in sackcloth, and wearing all the signs of mourning. He himself fasted till sunset, and as he followed the bier to the burial-place at Hebron, poured forth a solemn dirge. This incident gave David an insight into Joab’s unscrupulous character, which he never forgot. These men, he said, the sons of Zeruiah, be too hard for me, and I am this day weak though anointed king (2 Sam. iii. 39).

The death of Abner was the signal for the dissolution of the tottering kingdom he had supported. On receiving the tidings of his kinsman’s murder, Ishbosheth’s hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled (2 Sam. iv. 1). His body-guard was composed of men from his own tribe of Benjamin, but two divisions of it were commanded by two men, Baanah and Rechab, who, though descendants of the Canaanitish natives of Beeroth278, were reckoned among the Benjamites. In revenge, it has been suggested, for some injury they had received from Saul—possibly the slaughter of their Gibeonite kinsmen (Comp. 2 Sam. xxi. 1, 2)—and certainly with the hope of conciliating the new king at Hebron, these two resolved to take the life of Ishbosheth. About the heat of the day (2 Sam. iv. 5), therefore, they entered the palace under pretence of fetching some wheat piled up near the entrance (2 Sam. iv. 6), and finding Ishbosheth lying on his bed they stabbed him to the heart, and cut off his head. Then hurrying all that afternoon and all night (2 Sam. iv. 7) down the valley of the Jordan, they presented themselves before David at Hebron with the bloody head in their hands. But they met with no better reception than the pretended slayer of Saul. David sternly rebuked them for their cold-blooded murder of a righteous person in his own house upon his bed, and ordered their instant execution. Their hands and feet were cut off, and their bodies were suspended over the pool at Hebron, while the head of Ishbosheth was buried with all honours in the sepulchre of Abner (2 Sam. iv. 8–12).

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CHAPTER II.

DAVID’S REIGN AT JERUSALEM.
2 Sam. v.–vii.   B.C. 1048–1042.

EVERY obstacle was thus removed that had hitherto prevented David’s assuming the royal power over all the tribes. Ishbosheth was dead, Abner was dead, Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s only surviving son, was barely 12 years of age. The son of Jesse had long waited for his hour, and at length it was come. A deputation from all the tribes of Israel (2 Sam. v. 1) repaired to Hebron, and formally offered him the crown. A solemn league was then entered into, and for the third time David was anointed amidst great rejoicings. At Hebron he had reigned for 7½ years over Judah; he was now king of all Israel. His band of six hundred faithful followers had rapidly swelled into a great host, like the host of God (1 Ch. xii. 22). And now not only Dan and Judah and Simeon, not only Benjamin and Ephraim, not only the tribes beyond the Jordan, Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, flocked around his standard, but Issachar sent men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do (1 Ch. xii. 32), and Zebulun and Naphtali sent not only men, but the peculiar products of their rich territory279 (1 Ch. xii. 40), while a still more important accession consisted of 4,600 warriors of the Levitical tribe, and 3,700 of the house of Aaron, headed by Jehoiada, and the youthful but valiant Zadok (1 Ch. xii. 25–28). Upwards of 300,000 choice warriors of the flower of Israel were thus gathered together to turn the kingdom of Saul to David, and join in celebrating the three days’ festival which greeted his accession to the throne (1 Ch. xii. 39).

His first act after his coronation was significant. Saul had been always content with the obscurity of his native Gibeah, and had cared little for any central point of union for the tribes. As sovereign over all Israel, both north and south, David resolved to move the seat of government from Hebron nearer to the centre of the country. No spot seemed to present so many advantages as the rocky mass on which rose the city of the Jebusites280. It was neutral ground, on the very meeting-point of his own tribe and that of Benjamin281. The lower city had been once taken by the warriors of Judah (Judg. i. 8)282, but the fortress of the Jebusites, strong in its seemingly impregnable position, had never been reduced. The presence of so many warriors from all the tribes was favourable for making an attempt on so renowned a citadel, and at the head of all his forces David advanced against it, probably from the south. As before, the lower city appears to have been easily captured, but again the fortress held out against every attack283. Moreover, so convinced were the Jebusites of the strength of their castle and of the ancient “everlasting gates” of its rocky ravines, that they merely manned its walls with the lame and blind (2 Sam. v. 6), deeming them amply sufficient for the defence. Their taunts roused the wrath of David, and he promised that whoso first scaled the rocky sides of the citadel and smote the Jebusite garrison, should have the post of captain-general of the forces. Thereupon the agile Joab climbed up first, and as the conqueror of the fastness of Jebus was rewarded with the post of commander-in-chief, the same office that Abner had held under Saul. Then, without loss of time, David took measures for securing his new possession. He enclosed the whole city with a wall, and connected it with the newly-captured fortress, and there took up his abode, and thus the Jebusite stronghold became the City of David.

The effect of the conquest of this celebrated fortress was very great. The news no sooner reached the court of Hiram, king of Phœnicia284, than he despatched messengers to David with offers of artificers and materials for constructing a palace, which was accordingly built, and hither David removed his wives from Hebron, and increased his already numerous household (2 Sam. v. 13–16). In other quarters the news was very differently received. The Philistines made two distinct attempts to crush the new king, of whose powers they were well aware. On the first occasion they came and encamped their numerous forces in the valley of Rephaim, or the Valley of Giants, south-west of Jerusalem, and stretching thence half-way to Bethlehem. After duly enquiring of the Lord, David marched out against them, and swept them away, as though with a “burst of waters,” whence he named the spot Baal-perazim, the Plain of Bursts or Destruction (2 Sam. v. 17–20). A second attempt of the same pertinacious foe met with no better success; they were entirely routed, and the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations (1 Chr. xiv. 17).

His next care was to consecrate his new capital with religious associations. After consultation with the chiefs of the nation, he assembled 30,000 from all Israel (2 Sam. vi. 1; 1 Chr. xiii. 1), and went to Kirjath-jearim, the Village of Forests, where the Ark seems to have remained all through the reign of Saul in the custody of the Levite Abinadab (1 Sam. vii. 1, 2). The sacred coffer was placed in a new cart drawn by oxen, and with Uzzah and Ahio the sons of Abinadab preceding it, was escorted towards Jerusalem amidst great rejoicings, and the sound of psalteries, cornets, timbrels, and cymbals. On reaching the threshing-floor of Chidon or Nachon (1 Chr. xiii. 9, margin), the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the ark. In a moment he fell dead (2 Sam. vi. 7). This untoward event filled David with alarm; the spot itself was henceforth known as Perez-uzzah, the breaking or disaster of Uzzah (1 Chr. xiii. 11), and it was resolved to desist from any further attempt at present to remove the sacred coffer. Accordingly it was carried aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite, that is, probably, a native of Gath-Rimmon, a town of Dan, allotted to the Kohathite Levites, of whom Obed-Edom was one, where it remained three months (2 Sam. vi. 10, 11; 1 Chr. xiii. 13).

Meanwhile David prepared a new Tabernacle at Jerusalem, and hearing that the presence of the Ark had brought a blessing to the house of Obed-Edom, he assembled the Levites, and Zadok and Abiathar the two representatives of the Aaronic family, and bade them prepare for the duty of removing the sacred symbol. Solemn purifications, neglected on the previous occasion (1 Chr. xv. 12–14), were now performed, and the Levites, arranged in orderly divisions with singers and musicians, the elders of Israel, and captains of the host, set out for the house of Obed-Edom. On this occasion the Levites, as enjoined in the Law, lifted it with the long staves passing through the rings of the ark285, and raising it upon their shoulders, commenced the joyous procession (1 Chr. xv. 15).

When they had advanced six paces (2 Sam. vii. 13), it was clear that the Lord was this time helping them, and the procession paused to offer a sacrifice of seven bullocks and seven rams in token of thankfulness for this proof of the Divine favour. Then the march was resumed amidst shouting and the joyful sounds of all kinds of music, headed by David himself in an ephod of linen, and by the singers and Levites arrayed in white vestments. As they ascended the path leading upwards to the ancient fortress of the Jebusites, the king, carried away by the associations of this great day, not only played on a stringed instrument, but accompanied the music with leaping and dancing. At length the city was reached, and the gates of the ancient fortress lifted up their heads, as the symbol of the presence of Jehovah, the King of Glory, the Lord strong and mighty, entered in (Ps. xxiv. 8, 9), and was placed within the awnings of the new Pavilion-Tent that had been prepared for it. A series of burnt-offerings and peace-offerings were then celebrated, and the king blessed the people, and dismissed them to their homes with ample presents. A single untoward incident marred this the greatest day in David’s life. As the procession passed under the windows of her apartments, Michal, the daughter of Saul, deeming David’s dance undignified, despised him in her heart (2 Sam. vi. 16), and when at the conclusion of all the gorgeous ceremonial he entered his house to bless his family (2 Sam. vi. 20), she came out to meet him, but in place of congratulations taunted him with his indecorous appearance that day. David replied with great bitterness to this untimely scoffing, and Michal had no child unto the day of her death (1 Sam. vi. 23).

The construction of his own palace and the reception of the Ark within the folds of a new Tabernacle in Zion, now awoke in the king the desire to build a more ample and permanent Temple for Jehovah. The design received the Divine approval, but it was intimated to him by Nathan the prophet, that as he was a man of war and blood (1 Chr. xxviii. 3), so peaceful a work would be better reserved for another. The refusal, however, was accompanied by a promise of the permanence of his dynasty; the mercy of Jehovah should not be taken from him as it had been from Saul; a son of his own should carry on the work, and his throne should be established for ever (2 Sam. vii. 12–17; 1 Chr. xvii. 3–15).

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CHAPTER IV.

THE REBELLION OF ABSALOM.
2 Sam. xiii.–xx.   B.C. 1032–1022.

THE reduction of Rabbah was the last of David’s conquests. His kingdom had reached the limits foretold to the patriarch Abraham, and vied in extent with some of the great empires of that age. But from this point dark clouds began to gather round his own personal history, and the doom denounced by the prophet found its fulfilment. The terrible secret of his adultery and murder may at first have been known only to a few, but its results were soon proclaimed upon the housetops. Out of the numerous harem which, in defiance of the law of the kingdom, he had multiplied to himself, out of his own household, came the instruments of his punishment. First, his daughter Tamar was outraged by her half-brother and his eldest son Amnon. Two years afterwards Amnon fell a victim to the wrath of Tamar’s own brother Absalom (father of peace), who caused him to be murdered at a sheep-shearing festival, and then, apprehensive of the resentment of David, fled to the court of Talmai his grandfather, the king of Geshur, a district on the east of the Jordan south of Mount Hermon (2 Sam. xiii. 36).

Here he remained secure in its rocky fastnesses for three years, during which time the soul of David was consumed (2 Sam. xiii. 39, margin) with longing for his favourite son. Perceiving this, Joab availed himself of the services of a wise woman of Tekoa298, who sought an interview with the king, and addressing him in an apologue similar to that which Nathan had employed, succeeded in obtaining permission for the exile’s return. Joab, therefore, went to the court of the king of Geshur, and thence brought back the young prince, who took up his abode at Jerusalem, but was not suffered to see his father’s face. Twice he sent a message to David’s general, begging him to intercede in his behalf with the king, but Joab deemed he had done enough, and would take no further steps in the matter. Thereupon Absalom caused a barley-field belonging to Joab, which was near his own estate, to be set on fire, and the latter, probably fearing further outrage, informed the king, who consented to see his son, and gave him the kiss of peace (2 Sam. xiv. 23–33).

But the ungrateful son was no sooner thus restored, than he began to form plots against his father. First he surrounded himself with a small body-guard, with chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. Then, to ingratiate himself with the people, he took his stand by “the way of the gate299,” a duty which David appears to have neglected, and conversed with suitors coming up to the city for judgment, lamented the delays they would encounter in obtaining a hearing of their causes (2 Sam. xv. 3), and insinuated how different would be the aspect of affairs if he was made judge in the land. Young, handsome beyond compare in Israel (2 Sam. xiv. 25), sprung from a royal house both on his father and his mother’s side (2 Sam. iii. 3), he made a deep impression on the people, and his insinuating manners and unusual condescension stole away their hearts (2 Sam. xv. 6). Since the dark sin of which he had been guilty, the hold of the king upon the nation appears to have been weakened, and he had become less fitted for the more personal and more energetic duties of his position. And now the powerful tribe of Judah, fretting, it has been suggested, under their absorption into one great kingdom, or looking for some greater degree of power under the supremacy of a prince like Absalom, showed signs of a want of confidence in their sovereign, and in the course of two years Absalom perceived that matters were ripe for a revolt300.

Under pretence, therefore, of a vow which he had vowed to the Lord (2 Sam. xv. 7–9), he succeeded in obtaining from David permission to go to Hebron, the old capital of the tribe of Judah, and repaired thither accompanied by 200 men from Jerusalem, probably of the chief families, who were, however, entirely ignorant of his designs. To the same place also he summoned Ahithophel the Gilonite, the familiar friend and counsellor of his father, whose advice was deemed to have the value of a Divine oracle301.

While Absalom was taking these measures, news of the conspiracy and of the popular feeling reached the royal palace. Instantly, without offering any resistance, or striking a single blow in defence of his crown, David resolved on flight. Accompanied by the royal body-guard and the 600 Gittites, and a vast concourse of people, he left Jerusalem, and early in the morning crossed the brook Kidron. As far as the city boundaries he was also followed by the Levites, and the high-priests Zadok and Abiathar with the Ark. But David had no wish to expose the sacred symbol to any risk, and the two chiefs of the Levitical tribe might do him better service at Jerusalem; accordingly they were bidden to turn back. Then crossing the ravine of the Kidron, with head covered and unsandalled feet, his retinue manifesting every sign of profound sorrow, the king ascended the slopes of Olivet, and as he went received intelligence that his privy counsellor Ahithophel had gone over to the ranks of his rebellious son. In the defection of this man, his equal302, his guide, his own familiar friend, he instantly saw his danger, and prayed that the counsel of Ahithophel might be turned into foolishness (2 Sam. xv. 31).

Reaching the summit of the hill, he encountered Hushai the Archite303, the king’s friend, with torn robe and dust upon his head. In him David saw a fitting instrument for counteracting the influence of Ahithophel, and persuaded him to return to Jerusalem, and undertake the dangerous task of pretending a devotion to the cause of Absalom, while really, in conjunction with Zadok and Abiathar and their two sons, he kept a strict watch over all that occurred. Hushai accordingly turned back, and David descended the further slopes of Olivet. Here he met Ziba, the wily servant of Mephibosheth, the son of his old friend Jonathan, with welcome supplies of wine, bread, and fruit. Ziba represented that his master was staying behind at Jerusalem, awaiting any change in his fortunes which the rebellion might bring, and, as a reward for his services, obtained a ready grant of his estates. At Bahurim, a little further down the hill, David encountered Shimei, a Benjamite of the house of Saul, who flung stones at the royal retinue, and imprecated on them the most furious curses, in which he perhaps expressed the long pent-up hatred of the family of Saul, as well as the popular feeling against the author of Uriah’s death. The impetuous Abishai would have instantly cut off his head, but David stayed his hand, Let him curse, said he, for the Lord hath bidden him (2 Sam. xvi. 10–12). The way now led into the Jordan valley, and for the first time the weary retinue halted, and refreshed themselves with Ziba’s welcome supplies.

Meanwhile Absalom, with Ahithophel and a numerous retinue, had reached Jerusalem. There he met Hushai, who saluted him with the words, Long live the king. Even Absalom was startled, and reproached him for his apparent treachery, but kept him by him. The first step of the usurper, suggested by Ahithophel, was to take possession of his father’s harem304, and so render all reconciliation impossible (Comp. 2 Sam. iii. 7, 8).

The course to be next taken was anxiously debated. Ahithophel was for instant measures, and offered with 12,000 men to head a pursuit after David that very night, while he was weary and weak-handed. If he smote the king, he felt sure the whole people would side with Absalom, and his triumph would be complete. The advice found favour with the usurper, and the elders about him. But first he resolved to call in Hushai, and ascertain his opinion. Hushai pronounced the plan imprudent in the extreme. To attack the king while surrounded by his mighty men, all chafing in their minds, as a she bear robbed of her whelps, was very dangerous. From a partial defeat the prince had everything to fear, and the king everything to gain. He counselled, therefore, delay, and the mustering of the entire national forces from Dan to Beer-sheba. Absalom approved of this plan, and Ahithophel, probably seeing the certain effects of such delay, and chagrined at the adoption of another’s counsel in preference to his own, retired to Giloh, put his household in order, and hanged himself (2 Sam. xvii. 23).

Without a moment’s delay Hushai now sought out Zadok and Abiathar, related all that had occurred in the council, and urged that a messenger should be instantly sent to David, to bid him not linger in the Jordan valley, but cross the river with all speed. The two sons of the high-priests were in concealment at the fountain of En-rogel, ready for such an errand. A female slave was sent thither to bid them instantly carry the message to David. They forthwith started, but narrowly escaped detection. At Bahurim a lad saw them and conveyed the news to Absalom, and it was only by hiding in a well that they escaped the vigilance of their pursuers, and announced their errand to David. Though it must have been midnight, the king instantly crossed the river, and before the dawn of the following day not one of his retinue remained on the western side of the Jordan305. Mahanaim, the former capital of Ishbosheth, now became his head-quarters, and here he mustered his forces, and placed them under the command of Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, and received a welcome supply of provisions from Shobi, the son of his old friend Nahash of Rabbah, from Machir of Lodebar, and Barzillai a wealthy Gileadite.

Meanwhile Absalom also had mustered his forces, and having entrusted the command to Amasa, the son of Ithra or Jether by Abigail David’s sister (2 Sam. xvii. 25), he too crossed the Jordan. The decisive engagement, which was not long delayed, took place not far from Mahanaim, in the dense forest of Ephraim, a region still “covered with thick oaks, and tangled bushes, and thorny creepers growing over rugged rocks and ruinous precipices306.” Here the army of Absalom was utterly routed. Entangled in the thick undergrowth, crushing each other in remediless ruin, upwards of 20,000 perished in that fatal wood, which devoured more people that day than the sword devoured (2 Sam. xviii. 8). Amidst the crowd of fugitives Absalom also fled, and as he rode on his mule where “the strong arms of the trees spread out so near the ground that one cannot walk erect beneath them307,” his long hair caught in an oak, and he hung suspended from the tree. A man chanced to see him, and forthwith told Joab. He himself had forborne to touch the prince, having heard the strict injunctions of the loving David to his three captains before the battle to deal tenderly with the young man. But Joab had no such scruples; with three darts in his hand he went to the spot and transfixed him while yet alive. A great pit was then dug, and into it the corpse was flung, and covered with a great heap of stones. With the death of the usurper Joab knew the rebellion was at an end, he therefore sounded the signal of recall, and the battle closed.

Meanwhile David, who had been sitting at the gate of Mahanaim anxiously awaiting tidings of the battle, no sooner heard that his son was dead, than he gave way to the most violent grief. Joab alone dared to confront him, bidding him bestir himself if he would not see another popular revolt. Roused at last, the king consented to present himself at “the gate.” But he could not forget who had given the death-blow to his favourite son, and even vowed to transfer the chieftaincy of the troops to Amasa, though he had led the forces on the other side, and “in this was laid the lasting breach between himself and his powerful nephew, which neither the one nor the other ever forgave.” The rebellion ended, the rightful monarch could return to his kingdom. With a self-control rare in Western no less than Eastern history, every step in his progress was marked by forgiveness. Shimei was forgiven, Mephibosheth, proved to have been faithful, was partially reinstated, and Barzillai rewarded with ample gifts (2 Sam. xix. 16–43).

But the danger was not yet over. In bringing about the king’s return, his own tribe of Judah had the largest share. This provoked the old jealousy of the other tribes308 (Comp. Judg. viii. 1; xii. 1), while the Benjamites even took up arms, and placed themselves under the leadership of Sheba, son of Bichri, a man of Mount Ephraim. Many others also rallied round him, and when Amasa, the new general-in-chief failed within three days to muster the forces of Judah, David was afraid lest more harm should come of this fresh rising than had come from that of Absalom. Accordingly Abishai with the “Mighty Men” was dispatched to quell the insurrection, and to pursue after Sheba before he reached any fortified towns. Taking with him the royal body-guard, Abishai, accompanied by Joab, set out, and at the great stone of Gibeon encountered Amasa. Joab’s robe was girded round his waist, and in the folds was a sword, which “by accident or design protruded from the sheath.” Art thou in health, my brother? he saluted Amasa, and took him by the beard as if to kiss him. The other rushed into his embrace, and was instantly stabbed to the heart, his blood spirting out upon his cousin’s girdle and sandals. Leaving the body in the road, Joab hurried on after Sheba, who, rousing the tribes as he passed, had made for Abel Beth-Maachah309, a town of some importance far up in the north by the waters of Merom. Thither Joab rushed in pursuit, threw up an embankment, and battered the walls. A wise woman saved the town from destruction. Approaching the wall, she gained a parley with the angry general, who promised to leave the place, if Sheba was put to death. Thereupon she returned to her people, and the head of the rebel was soon flung into Joab’s camp, who straightway sounded a trumpet, and with his troops returned to Jerusalem (2 Sam. xx. 22).

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CHAPTER V.

CLOSE OF DAVID’S REIGN.
2 Sam. xxi.–xxiv.   1 Kings i. ii.   B.C. 1022–1015.

SHORTLY after David’s restoration, his kingdom was visited for three years with a grievous famine. Enquiry was made of the Divine Oracle, and it was discovered to be a punishment for an act of faithlessness on the part of Saul, who had broken the solemn covenant made by Joshua with the Gibeonites (Josh. ix. 3–27). In a fit of sudden zeal for the children of Israel and Judah he had killed some of them, and devised a general massacre of the rest (2 Sam. xxi. 2, 5). The Gibeonites were now asked what atonement they were willing to receive for the wrongs they had suffered. In reply, they demanded neither silver nor gold. Blood had been spilt, and blood they would have, and nothing would satisfy them but permission to take seven of Saul’s sons and hang, or rather crucify, them at Gibeah. Accordingly the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, and the five sons of Michal, whom they had borne to Saul, were delivered up, and the Gibeonites crucified them on the hill of Gibeah. This was done in April, at the beginning of barley-harvest310 (2 Sam. xxii. 9), and there the bodies remained till the periodical rains in October dropped upon them out of heaven (2 Sam. xxii. 10). All this while, spreading on the rock a coarse sackcloth robe, Rizpah watched over the blackening corpses, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. The tale of her devoted love at length was conveyed to David, who had the remains removed, and at the same time directed that the bones of Saul also and of Jonathan should be taken from Jabesh-Gilead, and buried in the ancestral sepulchre of Kish, after which God was intreated for the land (2 Sam. xxi. 14).

Meanwhile, in consequence probably of the intestine feuds of the Israelites, the Philistines had recovered sufficient strength to venture on once more attacking them. David himself went with the host to battle, and in mortal combat with another descendant of the giant race was near falling a victim to his rashness, when he was succoured by the valiant Abishai, and the people, fearful lest the light of Israel should be quenched (2 Sam. xxi. 17), prevailed upon him to desist from accompanying them to battle in future. Other attempts were afterwards made by the Philistines, but the valour of David’s captains served to keep them in check (2 Sam. xxi. 18–22).

The Hebrew kingdom had now attained its farthest limits, even those which God had revealed many centuries before in vision to Abraham (Gen. xv. 18). Not only had David given a capital to his people, but he had conquered all the nations on the immediate frontier of his realm. His kingdom had become like one of the kingdoms of the world311. It had its court, its palace, its splendour, its tributaries. In this hour of his prosperity the monarch was tempted (1 Chr. xxi. 1) to yield to pride and self-exaltation, and gave directions to Joab to carry out a general census of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba. His object, it has been supposed, was either the levying of a poll-tax or the formation of a standing army with a view to foreign conquests312. Whatever was his precise motive, it excited the repugnance of the captains of the host, and even of Joab himself, who not only warned the king against being the cause of a trespass in Israel, but regarded the royal proposition as actually abominable (1 Chr. xxi. 6). When, however, he found that nothing would turn the king from his fixed purpose, he set out, and after the lapse of 9 months and 20 days reported 800,000 in Israel as fit for military service, and 500,000 in Judah. But before he had numbered Benjamin or Levi (2 Sam. xxiv. 10) David’s heart smote him, and Gad, the seer, was commissioned to offer him the choice of 7 years’ famine, or 3 months’ defeat before his enemies, or a 3 days’ pestilence. David chose to fall into the hands of God rather than into the hands of man. Thereupon the plague began, and during three days swept off upwards of 70,000. But when the hand of the destroying angel was uplifted over Jerusalem, the Lord, whose mercies are great (2 Sam. xxiv. 14), repented of the evil, and on the intercession of the king the angel desisted, when he was by the threshing-floor of Ornan or Araunah, a wealthy Jebusite. By the advice of Gad David now bought the site of the threshing-floor and a yoke of oxen, erected there an altar, and offered thereon burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. Fire descended in testimony of the acceptance of the sacrifice, and with the cessation of the plague consecrated the rocky site of the future altar of Solomon’s Temple on Mount Moriah (2 Chr. iii. 1).

The remaining years of David’s life were spent in amassing treasures and materials, and making preparations for the erection of the Temple (1 Chr. xxii. 5, 14). But even now the truth of the prophet’s words was forced upon him, that his foes should be those of his own household. The three eldest of his sons, Amnon, Chileab, and Absalom being dead, the fourth—Adonijah—resolved to put forth his pretensions to the kingdom. Like Absalom, whom he resembled in personal beauty, he began by surrounding himself with chariots and horsemen, and succeeded in drawing over to his side not only the high-priest Abiathar, but even Joab, the commander-in-chief, whose loyalty at last wavered. Confident in the support of such old servants of the king, the pretender proclaimed a great sacrificial festival at the Stone of Zoheleth, south of Jerusalem, near the fountain of En-rogel, and invited to it all the royal princes, except Solomon, and not a few of the captains of the royal army (1 K. i. 5–9).

While they assembled at Zoheleth, Nathan the prophet persuaded Bath-sheba to seek an interview with the king, and inform him of what was going on. Bath-sheba did so, and had hardly concluded her tale, when Nathan himself entered, confirmed her account, and demanded to know whether Adonijah’s actions had the royal approval. Though old and feeble, David had sufficient energy to rise to the present emergency, and solemnly assured Bath-sheba of his unalterable determination that Solomon should succeed to the throne. Then summoning Zadok and Benaiah he bade them, together with Nathan, convey Solomon in state down to Gihon, and there formally anoint and proclaim him king. Accordingly these officers, accompanied by the royal guards, escorted Solomon thither, mounted on the royal mule (1 K. i. 38), and there Zadok anointed him with oil from the sacred horn of the Tabernacle, amidst the sound of trumpets and loud shouts of God save the King. Thence the new monarch was escorted in triumph back through the city, and sat on the royal throne amidst general applause, in the sight of his aged father, who blessed God that during his own lifetime he had been permitted to behold his successor (1 K. i. 45–48). Intelligence of these transactions was conveyed to the conspirators, in the midst of their festivities at En-rogel, by Jonathan the son of Abiathar. They had already heard the noise of the people shouting as Solomon passed in procession through the city, and no sooner learnt the cause than, seized with alarm, they instantly dispersed, and every man went his way (1 K. i. 49). Dreading the vengeance of the new king, Adonijah now fled to the Tabernacle, put himself in sanctuary by grasping the horns of the altar, and refused to quit the spot till Solomon had promised with an oath to spare his life. The young and politic monarch, on being informed of this, abstained from binding himself by any oath, and simply assured Adonijah of safety so long as he shewed himself a worthy man, but threatened him with death, if wickedness should be found in him (1 K. i. 49–52). On these conditions he quitted his place of refuge, and, having made obeisance to the new king, returned to the privacy of his own house (1 K. i. 53).

The days of David were now rapidly drawing to a close. He therefore convened a solemn assembly of all the chiefs and elders of his people, the royal princes, the captains of his army, and his public officers, and standing up, aged as he was, gave them his last charge, and exhorted his son to constancy in the service of Jehovah. He then solemnly delegated to him the accomplishment of the desire of his life, the erection of the Temple, and committed to him in trust the abundant materials he had amassed for this purpose, as well as a pattern of the building, and of everything belonging to it. This address, confirmed as it was by the sight of the gold and silver, the brass and iron and precious stones, which the royal prudence had collected, had a great effect upon the people, and they also joyfully contributed to the execution of their sovereign’s design. Then, in language of unequalled pathos and beauty, the aged monarch solemnly thanked God for all His goodness, and prayed that He would bestow upon his son “a perfect heart,” enabling him to keep His testimonies and statutes, and build the Temple for which he had made provision. Amidst sacrifices of unusual abundance and great feastings and rejoicings, Solomon was then for the second time anointed king, and received the formal submission of all the royal princes, and the chiefs of the nation. In another and more secret interview David gave his son his last counsels, not only concerning his own deportment as ruler, but also respecting Joab and Shimei, who were committed to his vigilance, and Barzillai the Gileadite, who was entrusted to his regard. Then after a reign of 7½ years at Hebron, and of 33 years at Jerusalem, in a good old age, full of years, riches, and honour, the son of Jesse, the Shepherd, the Warrior, the King, the Psalmist, was gathered to his fathers, and buried in the city which had been once the fortress of the heathen Jebusites, but was now the capital of an empire that realised the loftiest ideal of prophecy, stretching from the “river of Egypt” to the Euphrates, and from the range of Lebanon to the gulf of Akaba313.

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CHAPTER VII.

THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE.
1 Kings v.–viii.   2 Chron. ii.–vii.   B.C. 1012–1005.

MINDFUL of the repeated instructions of his father, Solomon no sooner received the congratulations of Hiram, king of Tyre, upon his coming to the throne, than he sent to that monarch requesting that he would let him have Sidonian artisans, and a supply of cedar wood from the forests of Lebanon, for the construction of the Temple. Hiram responded with alacrity to the request, and a regular treaty was entered into between the two kings. Solomon bound himself to send yearly 20,000 cors318 of wheat, and 20 cors of oil to the Phœnicians, while Hiram undertook to float cedar trees and fir-trees to Joppa, and to send a number of skilled artificers to Jerusalem. For the purpose of felling the timber, a levy of 30,000 Israelites was made, who were placed under Adoniram; 10,000 were employed at a time, and relieved each other every month, spending a month in the mountains of Lebanon, and the other two months at their own homes (1 K. v. 13, 14). Besides these, 70,000 were employed as porters, and 80,000 as hewers in the various quarries. These latter were bondslaves, remnants of the Canaanites, who had not been expelled from the land. Under the eye of Tyrian master-builders, they hewed, and squared, and bevelled the stupendous blocks, some measuring even 17 and 18 feet, for the foundation of the sacred edifice.

The site, which had been already selected by David, was the eminence of Moriah, on the east of the city, rendered sacred at once as the spot where Abraham had offered up Isaac, and where the plague had been stayed during the last reign319. “Its rugged top was levelled with immense labour; its sides, which to the east and south were precipitous, were faced with a wall of stone, built up perpendicular from the bottom of the valley, so as to appear to those who looked down, of most terrific height; a work of prodigious skill and labour, as the immense stones were strongly mortised together and wedged into the rock.”

On this site, after 3 years of preparation, in the 4th year of Solomon’s reign, and the 480th after the departure from Egypt, the foundations were laid. No sound of hammer or axe, or any tool of iron, was heard as the structure rose (1 K. vi. 7). Every beam already cut and squared, every stone already hewn and bevelled, was laid silently in its appointed site,

Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung320.

Within a quadrangle formed by a solid wall was an open court, afterwards known as the Court of the Gentiles. Within this, surrounded by another wall and on a higher321 level, was the Court of the Israelites, and within this, and on a still higher level, the Court of the Priests. The Temple itself was built on the model of the ancient Tabernacle, but of more costly and durable materials, and like it consisted of the Porch, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies322.

(1) The Porch or Hall, which faced the East, was 10 cubits deep from E. to W., by 20 in width from N. to S., and 30 cubits high323. Either within, or, as some think, on either side of it, rose two brazen Pillars, the one called Jachin (durability), the other Boaz (strength), their capitals ornamented with network, chainwork, and pomegranates. (2) The Holy Place, the dimensions of which were exactly double those in the Tabernacle324, was 40 cubits long, by 20 wide, and 30 high. Its walls were of hewn stone, wainscotted with cedar and overlaid with gold325, and adorned with beautiful carvings representing cherubim, fruit, and flowers. It was entered by folding doors, similarly overlaid with gold and richly embossed. The floor was of cedar, boarded over with planks of fir or cypress; the ceiling was of fir, but both, as indeed every part, overlaid with gold in the richest profusion. In the Holy Place, as in the Tabernacle, stood the golden Altar of Incense, the Table of Shew-bread, and the Candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right, and five on the left. (3) A rich veil of the brightest colours separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, which was a perfect cube of 20 cubits. Here was the original Ark overshadowed by two colossal Cherubim of olive wood overlaid with gold, 10 cubits in height. These stood at each end, N. and S., and faced each other, each having two wings expanded, so that one wing of each touched over the Ark, and the other touched the wall. Outside the Holy Place stood a great Tank or “Sea” of molten brass, 10 cubits in diameter, 30 round, 5 high, and capable of holding 2000 baths. It was supported on 12 oxen, three turned each way, and its rim was ornamented with blossoms. Besides this there were 10 Lavers, for the purpose of ablutions, which stood on moveable bases of brass; each side of these was formed in three panels, and adorned with figures of oxen, lions, and cherubim. The great Brazen Altar of Burnt-sacrifice, 20 cubits long and 10 high, stood on the exact site of the threshing-floor of Araunah.

At length, by the 7th month in the 11th year of Solomon’s reign, the work was completed, and the king invited the chiefs of the different tribes, all the notables of the realm, as also the entire priestly and Levitical body326, to the solemn dedication. He himself took his seat on a raised throne of brass; the sacrificers stood before the Altar of Burnt-offering, surrounded by the choir arrayed in white robes, and playing on cymbals, psalteries, and harps; while the assembled nation crowded the courts without. Countless sheep and oxen were first laid on the brazen altar. Then from under the covering, where David had placed it, the priests solemnly brought the Ark of the Covenant to the folding-doors of the Temple. These were opened, and then past the Table of Shew-bread, and the golden Candlesticks, and the Altar of Incense, it was conveyed through the Veil to its appointed place, and the Cherubim spread over it their wings, and “received it, as it were, under their protection.” At this moment the choir lifted up their voices with the trumpets and cymbals, and instruments of music, and made one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord327, whose mercy endureth for ever, and simultaneously the Temple was filled with a cloud (1 K. viii. 10, 11), the “Glory” of the Lord descended, and Jehovah took possession of His new abode. Thereupon the king, rising on his brazen throne, and kneeling down upon his knees, spread forth his hands toward heaven, and offered up a solemn and sublime prayer. As he concluded with the petition, Arise, O Lord God, into Thy resting-place, Thou and the Ark of Thy strength, fire flashed forth from the “Glory” already filling the Temple, and consumed the burnt-offerings and the sacrifices (2 Chr. vii. 3), while the priests stood without, blinded with the excess of splendour, and the people bowing with their faces to the ground, worshipped and praised the Lord. The ceremony of dedication lasted seven days, and was succeeded by the Feast of Tabernacles, which was continued for two weeks, or twice the usual time328. During it, upwards of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep were partly offered in sacrifice, and partly made the materials of a great sacrificial feast, from which, on the 23rd day of the 7th month, the king sent the people away, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the Lord had shewed unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel His people (2 Chr. vii. 10).

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CHAPTER VIII.

SOLOMON’S REIGN CONTINUED.
2 Kings ix.–xi.   2 Chr. viii. ix.   B.C. 1005–975.

BEFORE the Temple was thus completed, Solomon had proceeded to construct other magnificent buildings. Amongst these was a sumptuous palace for himself, surrounded with beautiful pleasure-grounds, which stood within the city opposite to the Temple, and occupied 13 years in building (1 K. vii. 1). Another palace he built for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had espoused, and besides it the house of the forest of Lebanon329, 175 ft. long, half that measurement in width, and 50 ft. high. The roof, which was made of cedar, was supported by 4 rows of cedar columns, and the whole received light from 3 rows of windows on each side. Adjoining it were the women’s apartments, a banqueting-hall, and spacious and luxuriant gardens.

Other works were designed for use and security; among these were artificial reservoirs for supplying the city with water, and the strengthening or repairing of a fortress called Millo (1 K. ix. 15), already begun by David (2 Sam. v. 9). Solomon also fortified Baalath330; Gezer331 and the two Beth-horons on the great road towards the sea-coast; the strong and important post of Hazor332 to defend the entrance from Syria and Assyria; Megiddo to guard the Esdraelon plain; while, for the protection of his eastern caravans, he built Tadmor, afterwards called Palmyra, in the Syrian wilderness, and Tiphsah or Thapsacus333 on the Euphrates (2 Chr. viii. 3–6).

His reign was a period of great commercial activity. On the North-west the important kingdom of Phœnicia was united with him by the bonds of a strict alliance. Once only did Hiram, king of Tyre, express any dissatisfaction with the dealings of his powerful friend. Solomon had bestowed upon him twenty cities which he had conquered in the land of Galilee, on the borders of Asher. But when the Tyrian king came forth to see them, he was much dissatisfied. One of them named Cabul, now Kabûl, about 8 or 9 miles east of Akka, in his own Phœnician tongue denoted displeasure, and this name he gave to them all (1 K. ix. 10–13).

1. But Phœnician enterprise was turned to account in other directions. Having possession of the Eastern shore of the Red Sea, Solomon strengthened the ports of Elath and Ezion-geber (the giant’s backbone), and with the assistance of Tyrian shipwrights, constructed a fleet, which sailed to Ophir334, and returned with gold, silver, ivory, and other products (1 K. ix. 26–28).

2. The Tyrian alliance opened up also the traffic of the Mediterranean. On every shore washed by this sea Phœnician energy had founded colonies, and opened trading ports, of which the chief was Tarshish, or Tartessus—“the Peru of Tyrian adventure335”—on the southern coast of Spain, at this time abounding in gold and silver mines. Hither Solomon’s fleet sailed in company with that of Hiram, and brought back every three years of its precious products (1 K. x. 22).

3. Another important outlet for trade was supplied by Egypt. Not only had Solomon espoused a daughter of Pharaoh, but in defiance of the Mosaic Law (Deut. xvii. 16) he exchanged the produce of his own country for the horses and chariots of Egypt, as also for the linen-yarn, spun from the flax which the Nile valley yielded in abundance (1 K. x. 28, 29).

4. Last, but not least important, was the inland trade of the Arabian peninsula. Caravans of the native tribes transported on camels the spices, incense, gold, precious stones, and valuable woods of the country, especially the almug or sandal, and brought them into the dominions of Solomon, or, if they were intended for his Tyrian allies, to Gezer and Beth-horon, whence they were transported to the port of Joppa.

But though these several branches of commerce opened up to the Hebrew kingdom many and various sources of national prosperity, and tended to multiply the luxuries and magnificence of the court, this prosperity was on the surface only. Hidden beneath its external splendour were several cankers, which surely though secretly undermined the true life of the nation. First of all, this massing of gold and silver, as doubtless the Jewish Lawgiver had foreseen, could only be brought about by a process of severe taxation. And while forced to bear burdens heavy and grievous, the nation saw the tide of commercial profits, instead of being fairly distributed among the people, flowing only into the royal exchequer. Secondly, these commercial alliances seriously affected the nation’s allegiance to Jehovah. In imitation of other Oriental empires Solomon surrounded himself with a numerous harem, having 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 K. xi. 1–3). Besides the daughter of Pharaoh, he espoused women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites, and, as he grew old, they turned away his heart from the worship of the true God. Three times, indeed, during the year he celebrated the Festivals of Jehovah (1 K. ix. 25), but the licentious worship of Baal and Ashtaroth, of Moloch and Chemosh, found its way even into the Holy City, and their hideous orgies were enacted “hard by the oracles of God” (1 K. xi. 5–8).

At first, perhaps, there may have been few signs of weakness in a fabric so vast and so magnificent. In the figurative language of the sacred record, silver was in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar-trees as sycamores; Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry; in the enjoyment of profound peace, every man dwelt safely under his vine and under his fig-tree. Princes administered the government of various portions of the empire (1 K. iv. 1–6); officers deputed for the purpose provided victual for the royal table, and barley and straw for Solomon’s 40,000 chariot-horses, his 12,000 war-horses (1 K. iv. 26), and his swift mules; kings and princes of subject-provinces brought in their tribute at a fixed rate year by year (1 K. x. 25); and when the queen of Sheba came with her great train from distant Yemen in Arabia to prove the king with hard questions, and beheld his palace, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cup-bearers, and the ascent from his own palace to the Temple336, there was no spirit left in her, and she confessed that the half of his fame and magnificence had not been told her (1 K. x. 1–9).

Before long, however, clouds began to gather portending the coming storm. Once at Gibeon, on the occasion of his accession, again after the dedication of the Temple (1 K. iii. 5; ix. 2), the Lord had appeared to Solomon, and on condition that he continued to walk in the ways of his father, had promised to crown him with prosperity, and establish his dynasty, but at the same time had warned him that any apostasy would bring down severe punishment. But promise and warning had been alike forgotten, and when the Lord appeared for the third time, it was to announce that the kingdom should be rent from him (1 K. xi. 9–13).

i. The quarter, whence danger first threatened, was on the south, in the land of Edom. When Joab invaded that country during the late reign, and for six months directed an indiscriminate massacre of the male population, Hadad, who was of the blood royal, and at that time a little child, was carried off into Egypt, where he was hospitably received by the reigning Pharaoh, and rapidly rising in the royal esteem, obtained the hand of Tahpenes, the sister of the Egyptian queen. On the death of David and of Joab, he returned from Egypt, and thirsting to break off the hard yoke of Jacob from the neck of Esau, organized a revolt in his native land, and began to threaten Solomon’s communication with the Elanitic Gulf (1 K. xi. 15–22).

ii. A second adversary appeared in the north-eastern provinces of the empire. Rezin, the Syrian, the son of Eliadah, flying from the defeat which his feudal lord Hadadezer, king of Zobah, had sustained at the hands of David, put himself at the head of a band of adventurers and seized Damascus. Here he set up a petty kingdom, and became an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, and an impediment to the king’s commerce with Tadmor and the Euphrates (1 K. xi. 23–25).

iii. But a far more formidable adversary appeared nearer home. When Solomon was constructing the fortifications of Millo under the citadel of Zion, he observed the industry and activity of Jeroboam, already known as a man of valour, the son of an Ephraimite, named Nebat. Perceiving his worth, the king not only employed him on the works, but elevated him to the rank of collector of the taxes from his native tribe. On one occasion as he was going out of Jerusalem, Jeroboam encountered the prophet Ahijah of the ancient sanctuary of Shiloh, and accompanied him to a neighbouring field. When they were alone, the prophet rent the new outer robe in which he was attired into twelve pieces, and gave ten of them to Jeroboam, assuring him at the same time that he should reign over ten of the tribes, and that if he proved faithful to His laws God would establish his dynasty as he had done that of David (1 K. xi. 26–39). News of this mysterious intimation in some way reached the ears of Solomon, and he sought to put Jeroboam to death, but the latter fled for refuge to the court of Shishak (Sheshonk I.), a powerful monarch, who was bent on restoring Egypt to its former greatness. Here he remained during the rest of Solomon’s reign. Departing from his earlier policy the king had laid the burden of compulsory labour not only on the remnant of the Canaanites, but on the Israelites themselves (1 K. v. 13, 14). This increased the old jealousy of the great house of Joseph, and a man like Jeroboam was certain at any time to rally round him all the national discontent and ill-feeling against the once prosperous monarch.

While the signs of coming danger were thus becoming more and more evident, Solomon’s reign of 40 years came to a close, B.C. 975. The hopes he might have inspired when first elevated to the throne had not been fulfilled. He had, indeed, built the promised Temple; he had adorned Jerusalem with sumptuous palaces; his wisdom and learning had attracted the notice and roused the envy of distant monarchs; but he had not been mindful, save for a short time, while the example of David and the instructions of his preceptor Nathan were fresh in his memory, of the vocation to which he had been called. His kingdom exhibited some of the worst faults of other Oriental monarchies. He had violated each and all of the fundamental principles of the kingdom as laid down by the great Lawgiver of his nation. He had encouraged the worst forms of idolatry, had multiplied wives, had amassed enormous wealth, had laid heavy burdens on the people, and sated with pomp and splendour and selfish luxuries, he had confessed the vanity of his life (Eccles. i. 12–18). The kingdom which Abraham had seen in vision stretching from the river of Egypt to the gates of Damascus had, indeed, been realized, but its unity was not destined to survive the reign of the son of David337.

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CHAPTER I.

THE REVOLT OF THE TEN TRIBES.
1 Kings xii.   2 Chron. x.   B.C. 975.

REHOBOAM, the successor of Solomon, was 41 years of age when he came to the throne. Though his title does not seem to have been disputed at Jerusalem, he deemed it right to obtain a more general and public recognition, and probably as a concession to the powerful house of Joseph, convened a solemn assembly of the tribes at Shechem, its ancient but ruined338 capital. On his arrival there he encountered Jeroboam, who had been summoned from his retreat in Egypt, and now boldly appeared at the head of a deputation from all the tribes requesting a remission of the taxes and other heavy burdens, which had been laid upon the nation during the late reign. Thus directly appealed to, Rehoboam requested a space of three days for deliberation, and during this period first consulted the old advisers of his father. They unanimously suggested that he should accede to the nation’s request, and lighten its burden. But besides these experienced counsellors there were young men of rank, who had been the king’s companions, and were now about his court. They could ill brook any line of policy that seemed likely to lower the power of their patron, and advised him to take up the matter with a high hand, and by a firm denial of the nation’s request put down once and for all any similar demand. In an evil hour Rehoboam listened to their counsel, and at the end of the three days, when the envoys, again headed by Jeroboam, were summoned into his presence, announced to them his final resolve. My father made your yoke heavy, said he in the true spirit of an Oriental despot, and I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions (1 K. xii. 1–15).

This senseless reply was no sooner made known to the tribes than it roused a general spirit of rebellion. What portion have we in David? exclaimed the great tribe of Ephraim, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel; now see to thine own house, David (comp. 2 Sam. xx. 1). The assembly broke up in confusion, and each man returned to his home. But Rehoboam did not yet discern the full force of the rising storm. He was unwise enough to send Adoram, who had been chief receiver of the tribute during the reigns of his father and grandfather (2 Sam. xx. 24; 1 K. v. 14), to levy the usual dues. But the fate of his envoy proved the strength of the popular feeling. All Israel stoned him with stones, that he died, and the king himself was obliged to fly in haste to Jerusalem. His first impulse on his return was to punish the rebellious tribes, and for this purpose he gathered together an army of 180,000 men. But his preparations for a civil war were forbidden by Shemaiah, a man of God, who declared it to be the will of Jehovah that all hostilities should be laid aside, for the rending of the kingdom was from Him (1 K. xii. 18–24). Thereupon the projected war was given up, and the rebellion was complete339.

According to the new division of the land, (i) The kingdom of Judah included that tribe itself, together with Benjamin, which transferred to it its allegiance probably because Jerusalem was within its borders, and, at least eventually, a part if not all of the territory of Simeon and of Dan. For the present Edom appears to have remained its faithful vassal, and guarded the caravan trade with Ophir, while Philistia continued, for the most part, quiet. (ii) The kingdom of Israel, on the other hand, included that of the remaining eight tribes, i.e. Ephraim, and half Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali, as well as the coast line between Accho and Joppa, on the west of the Jordan; Reuben, Gad, and the remaining half tribe of Manasseh on the east of that river. Its vassal states were Moab (2 K. iii. 4), and so much of Syria as had remained subject to Solomon (1 K. xi. 24)343.

The first act of Jeroboam, on being declared ruler of the Ten Tribes, was to give a capital to his kingdom. For this purpose he rebuilt and fortified Shechem. His next step was to secure his dominions against his powerful northern neighbour, Syria. He, therefore, fortified Penuel344 beyond the Jordan, which commanded the fords of Succoth, and was on the great caravan road leading over Gilead to Damascus. But it required little reflection to convince him, that so long as the yearly pilgrimages summoned their thousands and tens of thousands to Jerusalem, his authority was but nominal. The Levitical class would constantly require to go up to the City of David in the order of their courses345, and the majority of them began to leave his kingdom for that of Judah. Without a Temple, without the Ark, without a Priesthood, he felt he could not maintain his power. Within the boundaries, however, of his realm were two sanctuaries, Bethel in the south, and Dan in the north. These, after some deliberation (1 K. xii. 28), he resolved to elevate into seats for national worship, which he hoped might rival the Temple at Jerusalem. Instead, however, of erecting altars there in honour of Jehovah, he made two calves of gold, figures probably of Apis or Mnevis, whose worship he had often witnessed during his residence in Egypt, and set them up at either sanctuary, with the address, Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt (1 K. xii. 28). Moreover, at both places he established a new order of priests, not taken from the sons of Levi, but from the lowest of the people, and therefore absolutely dependent on himself, and into this order any one could obtain admission on sacrificing a young bullock and seven rams (2 Chr. xiii. 9).

Having taken these measures, on the 15th day of the eighth month346 he proclaimed a solemn Festival of Dedication, and went up to Bethel, to offer incense in person on the altar. But at this critical moment, as he was standing there, a man of God from Judah appeared, who boldly confronted the king, denounced the idolatrous service, and foretold the desecration of the altar by a future king of the house of Judah, Josiah by name, who would offer upon it the priests of the high-places, and burn men’s bones upon it (See 2 K. xxiii. 15). Enraged at this out-spoken defiance, Jeroboam stretched forth his hand, and bade the bystanders seize the bold stranger. But at the moment his hand became suddenly paralysed, and at the same time the altar was rent asunder, and the ashes of the victims were poured out. Now thoroughly alarmed, the king implored the prophet to intercede with the Lord for him, that the heavy judgment he had incurred might be removed. The other complied, and the king’s hand was restored. Grateful for this signal favour, Jeroboam would now have hospitably entertained the man of God. But the latter had been sent on a special errand, and his commands had been precise, and peremptory, neither to eat bread, nor drink water in a place so openly profaned with idolatry, nor even to return thence by the same road that he had come. Accordingly he declined the royal invitation, and went his way (1 K. xiii. 10).

On the road, however, as he lingered under an oak, he was overtaken by an old prophet of Bethel, who had heard from his sons of the day’s occurrences at the festival. His own guilty silence had wellnigh made him a partaker in the sins of the king, and the bold bearing of the stranger reminded him of what he himself should have done. Either, therefore, from a wish to win respect for himself once more by intercourse with such an accredited messenger of the Most High, or with the full intention of deceiving him, and so bringing discredit on his words, he hurried after him, and now announced himself as the bearer of a distinct Divine command that he should return to Bethel. Overcome by this solemn declaration, the other accompanied him to the town. But as they were seated at the meal, the Spirit of the Lord came upon the guilty host, and the Deceiver was constrained to pronounce the doom of the Deceived. The man of God had been faithless to the terms of his commission, and a certain death awaited him, nor should his body ever come into the sepulchre of his fathers. With his doom upon him he went his way, and a lion met and slew him (1 K. xiii. 24).

But though dead, he was yet to speak, and testify to the solemnity of the mission on which he had been sent. When he was found lying dead on the road, the lion also was standing there, as well as the ass on which he had ridden; the beast of prey had not eaten the corpse, nor torn the ass. Thus the mysterious circumstances of the prophet’s death confirmed that sign of his authority, which he had weakened during his life; and the old prophet of Bethel, by laying him in his own sepulchre with all honour, and charging his sons after his death to bury him beside the victim of his own deceit, preserved in Jeroboam’s new religious capital a silent witness against the idolatries there practised (1 K. xiii. 30–32).