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Joshua brought the Tabernacle into the land of Canaan. Seven years it remained at Gilgal, guarded by a strong force, while the Israelites encamped there. When they went to battle, the Ark was taken out of it and carried before them, that the Lord might be always present with them, ready to be consulted in case of difficult emergencies. When Israel had more quiet possession of the land of Canaan, the Tabernacle was removed to Shiloh, and enclosed within walls. At Mount Ebal, Joshua built an altar of whole stones, and wrote on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, and "read all the words before all the congregation of Israel, with the women and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them. And they offered upon the altar burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and peace-offerings, to the Lord God of Israel."

The Hebrews, and "the mixed multitude" who, according to their Sacred Records, came up with them from Egypt, were so imbued with the customs of that country, that even Aaron consented to make a golden calf for them to worship, and himself erected an altar before it. Notwithstanding the severe edicts of Moses, and the efforts of Joshua to impress them on the minds of the people, they manifested in Canaan the same proneness to idolatry. Joshua found it necessary to assemble the tribes and earnestly remind them of the temporal blessings they had received from their tutelary God: "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought your fathers out of Egypt. And I brought you into the land of the Amorites. And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwelt in them; of vineyards and olive yards, which ye planted not, do ye eat." And Joshua said: "Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods, which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, [the river Euphrates] and in Egypt. But if it seem evil to you to serve the VOL. I.-35*

Lord, choose ye this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And the people answered, The Lord our God brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, and drove out from before us all the people, even the Amorites, which dwelt in the land; therefore will we serve the Lord. And Joshua said to the people, He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake him and serve strange gods, he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. Now therefore put away the strange gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the God of Israel. And the people said, We will serve the Lord our God, and his voice will we obey. And Joshua made a covenant with the people, and set them a statute and an ordinance, and wrote the words in the book of the Law of God, and took a great stone and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And he said, This stone hath heard all the words of the Lord, which he spake unto us; it shall therefore be a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God."

Hebrew records declare that the very next generation of "the children of Israel forsook the Lord God of their fathers, and served Baal and Ashtaroth." The first is supposed to have been the Chaldean representative of the Sun, and the other the Syrian representative either of the Moon, or of the planet Venus. Wild and troubled times followed the death of Joshua. Israelites intermarried with neighbouring tribes, and "forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves. Therefore the anger of the Lord waxed hot against Israel." The king of Mesopotamia conquered them, and they served him eight years before they were delivered out of his hand. Forty years after, the king of Moab conquered them, and they served him eighteen years. He was finally murdered by one of the tribe of Benjamin, and the Israelites had rest for eighty years. After that, they were conquered by the king of Canaan. At that period, Hebrews were governed by

judges; and it is a very remarkable feature in such unsettled times that "Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, judged Israel." By pursuing her advice the king of Canaan was conquered, and "the land had rest forty years." Then the Midianites conquered Israel and kept them in subjection seven years, so that they were compelled to "hide in dens in the mountains." In their distress, they cried unto the Lord, and a prophet named Gideon rose up to remind them of the God who brought their fathers out of Egypt. "The Lord said unto Gideon, Throw down the altar of Baal, which thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it; and build an altar unto the Lord thy God, and take thy father's young bullock and offer a burnt-sacrifice with the wood of the grove, which thou shalt cut down." Gideon obeyed the command; but so popular were the foreign gods, that he did it in the night-time, not daring to do it by day. When the men of the city discovered who had done it, they insisted he should be put to death; but his father warded off the present danger, and Gideon afterward secured the affections of the people by fighting successfully against the Midianites. He requested the men of Israel to bring him all the golden ear-rings they took with the spoils of war, and they willingly gave them, "beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment, that was on the kings of Midian, and chains that were about their camels' necks. And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city." There is no explanation concerning the use made of this ephod, but the natural supposition would be that it was consulted as an oracle. That it came in some way to be regarded as an idol, is implied by the remark that "all Israel went thither a whoring after it; which thing became a snare unto Gideon and his house."

"As soon as Gideon was dead, the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baal-berith their God." When the Ammonites conquered them, "and vexed and oppressed them eighteen years," they began again to cry unto the Lord. But "the Lord

said, Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen. Let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. And the children of Israel said, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel." Jephthah, "a mighty man of valour," was raised up to rescue his countrymen from the Ammonites. He ruled over Israel six years, as judge and general. In his history occurs the only instance of human sacrifice recorded in the Hebrew Sacred Writings. Before he went forth to battle, he made a vow that if he were victorious, he would sacrifice to God, as a burntoffering, whatever should first come forth from his house to meet him on his return. His daughter, his only child, came out to welcome him, and "he did with her according to his vow." This circumstance is told in the Book of Judges, without any expressions of disapprobation.

During the times of Joshua and the Judges, the visits of angels are still described as common occurrences. “It . came to pass when Joshua was near Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold a man was standing beside him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said, Art thou for us, or for our foes? And he said, Neither; for I am come as the prince of Jehovah's host. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did homage to him, and said, What would my Lord say to his servant? And the prince of Jehovah's host said to Joshua, Loose the shoe from thy foot, for the place thou standest upon is holy." An angel, who came up from Gilgal to admonish the nation, speaks as if he were Jehovah himself, saying: "I made you go out of Egypt." An angel of the Lord came and sat under an oak, and talked with Gideon while he was threshing wheat. Gideon prepared food for him, and was told to spread it on the rock. When the angel touched it with his staff, fire came out of the rock and consumed the food, and the angel vanished. Such visits appear to have been regarded as omens of

death; for Gideon was alarmed, and said: "Alas, because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face!" And the Lord said to him: "Fear not; thou shalt not die." An angel appeared to the wife of Manoah and predicted the birth of Samson. She described him to her husband as "a man of God, whose countenance was like an angel of God, very terrible." Afterward he appeared to her again, and she ran to call her husband, who offered him food; "for he knew not that he was an angel of the Lord." The mysterious visitor refused to eat, or tell his name; but commanded that the kid prepared for food should be burnt on the rock, as a sacrifice to the Lord; and when the flame rose, the angel ascended in it. Manoah and his wife fell on their faces to the ground, and said: "We shall surely die, because we have seen God."

A regular, established priesthood was incompatible with such unsettled times. Men consecrated their own priests, who were sometimes of the tribe of Levi, sometimes of other tribes. It is to be presumed that the people received little instruction in the Laws of Moses, for it is obvious enough that they were perpetually infringed, without meeting the punishment he affixed to such offences. It is recorded that a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah, took eleven hundred shekels of silver from his mother, and afterward restored them, confessing the theft. "And his mother took two hundred shekels of the silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image; and they were in the house of Micah. And Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. "And a young man of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, came to the house of Micah and sojourned there. And Micah said, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and Micah consecrated the Levite, and he became his priest." He was probably called a Levite merely be

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