Canaanites, who were divided into a number of nations or kingdoms. They were chiefly famous on account of the number and strength of their cities, the barbarous and superstitious character of their religion, and the licentiousness of their manners; no alliance with them and the race of Judah was therefore admissible, had even the land been sufficient to support both communities. Their expulsion or destruction became absolutely necessary, in order to the accomplishment of the divine purpose of Jehovah, to manifest, in a signal manner, the perfections of his nature and the holiness of his laws, in the land promised to Abraham. The Divine propriety of the instructions given to Moses and Joshua how to treat the Canaanites is the subject of several notes in the Pocket Commentary on the Old Testament; see Deut. vii. 1-4.

Canaan, or the Land of the Hebrews, was comparatively a small country, being less than two hundred miles long and one hundred broad. But God announced to Abraham that he would put those of his descendants who imitated his faith and obedience in possession of all the regions stretching "from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates." The former they were authorised by God to seize by force; the latter they obtained by success in defensive war. Canaan Proper was properly the Holy Land, because in it was the seat of divine worship; but idolatry was not permitted by the law of Moses to exist in any part of the lands conquered by Israel. For wherever their power was predominant, they were enjoined to destroy every vestige of idolatry, and establish the worship of the True God. This, it ought to be carefully observed, was the special object for which God chose for his people or public worshippers the race of Jacob. He is the sovereign Lord of the universe, and the impartial Judge; He respects not men on account of those things which they admire and praise; moral excellence alone renders one man more than another beloved by his Creator; and no nation could prove themselves more destitute of this than the Jews, in all ages. They were, with the exception of a comparatively small number, who truly believed God and his prophets, a people exceedingly perverse in heart, and hypocritical or wicked in life. They were, therefore, not selected for the peculiar people of the Most High because they deserved his favour, but in accordance with his own purpose respecting the race of Seth, and his promise to Abraham. And his object in the selection was that they should be the witnesses that he was the only True and Living God, the depositary of his revelations, and the instruments of making known the benevolent and just nature of his administration, as the supreme Sovereign, Saviour, and Judge of the human race.

This great and most important of all objects, in the eyes of every intelligent being, capable of judging real excellence, must be acknowledged to have been absolutely necessary in the age of Abraham; for while it was at once essential to the manifestation of the glory of God, and the welfare of mankind, we perceive not how it could be attained by any other means than that adopted by infinite wisdom; the separation of a people by whom God should make himself known in the manner he did, through the instrumentality of the race of Jacob.

This will appear if we reflect on their position and relation to the nations, from the time that Abraham was called to leave Chaldea

B

till the time when they ceased to be regarded and treated by the Deity as his peculiar people. During this long period, from A.M. 2023 to A.D. 70, they were placed in the position most favourable to the publicity of their principles, form of worship, and the remarkable and marvellous events which befell them.

Had Abraham remained in Chaldea, the history of him and his race would have been for many generations almost wholly unknown to the great mass of the human race; for the events which transpired east of the Euphrates, from the days of Chedorlaomer to the time of Pul, king of Assyria, who was contemporary with Uzziah, king of Judah, are buried in oblivion, or enveloped in fabulous records. Nor did any nation during this period maintain, as far as history attests, much intercourse with the other nations of the globe, except the Idumeans, on the Red Sea, the Egyptians, and the colonies from the Red Sea, by whom were built the commercial cities of Tyre and Sidon. And the latter had most probably not emerged from obscurity before the conquest of Canaan by Joshua; by consequence, we may see the propriety of the long sojourn of Israel in Egypt, the great centre of the early world's activity and commerce. That Israel were then a conspicuous people, no one can doubt who adverts to the dignity and influence of Joseph, the talented and eminently religious son of Jacob.

The Syrians and other nations were rapidly rising to the ascendancy in political power and commerce when Israel were established in Canaan; and Egypt had adopted what moderns would call Chinese policy, discouraging all intercourse with strangers, admitting not even merchants to trade, except at one or two ports. Canaan, henceforth, was far more suited to the propagation of the peculiar religion, laws, customs, and transactions of Israel, than any other place. For while it was sufficiently isolated from other nations to permit its inhabitants to live according to their own law, the high road of commerce between the eastern and western world passed along its borders, and it soon rose to great distinction, and at no remote period was an object of ambition to the mighty powers who strug. gled for the sovereignty of the world.

When the Israelites completely degenerated, and ceased to shed pure light on the thick darkness which enshrouded the nations, the terrible vengeance that desolated their land, and scattered them over the surface of the world, visibly accomplished the end for which they were chosen, perhaps more effectually than any event in their previous history. The judgment of Heaven corrected them; their love of idolatry was conquered; their zeal for the Sacred Oracles, and particularly for the laws of Moses, was rekindled; and their desire and hope of the coming of Messiah exceedingly strengthened. Such was the effect of their captivity in Babylon. Nor ought it to be forgotten that they were not dispersed over the eastern world till it had become the scene of the greatest transactions which characterise its history, and which deeply interested almost all the human race. How marvellous were the incidents connected with the exile of Israel every one knows; and how inexpressibly must some of these have tended to the dissemination of the knowledge of the True God, may be learned from the proclamations of the kings of Babylon and Persia.

The benevolent designs of Heaven in the separation of the Jews

for a "peculiar people" were apparently largely fulfilled by the restoration of a part of them to a national state, in their own land; and the settlement of multitudes of them in small communities, in the great cities of the empires of Greece and Rome; for they were thus brought into connexion with the most influential races of mankind. And it might be demonstrated, with no difficulty, and with much profit, that the true religion or Divine Revelation will be found, at all times, in the centre or vicinity of the regions which successively became the chief seats of power, and especially of commerce, on the globe. The star of Jacob will always be seen fixed above the kingdom or kingdoms on whose power appears suspended the destiny of mankind.

Several things peculiar to the Jews were remarkably fitted to attract all eyes to them. Thus their avowed belief and unceasing hope that one of their race, in a future age, was to surpass all men in excellence and power, and prove himself almighty to save not only his people, but all nations, and restore the world to more than the felicity of paradise; this sentiment spread so universally, and so deeply affected all minds, that in almost every nation, previous to the final destruction of Jerusalem, the expectation of such an illustrious person prevailed.

Again they publicly acknowledged Jehovah alone to be their supreme King, and regarded their rulers the mere ministers of his revealed will. If the latter were distinguished by despising the laws of Moses and the instructions of the prophets, they were viewed usurpers while they lived, and were covered with disgrace at death, for no honourable burial was granted them. Other nations either worshipped their chiefs while they lived or after their death, or, like the Greeks, boasted of power to control them; but the Jews, when subject to their constitution and laws, obeyed no voice except that of the supreme God, announced by them whom they firmly believed to be his ministers. In their government, the authority of Deity was all in all. This, as we shall see, characterised the nation, in respect to the gods of the nations, after the captivity; and the phenomenon must have produced a strong impression on every intelligent and reflective mind, accustomed to witness every where the worship of idols, with no sign of the belief in the unity of the Creator.

Further, every public transgressor of the laws was sentenced to immediate punishment, exactly proportioned to the rule of rigid justice, the law of retaliation, or of restitution, minutely defined by Moses. The degree of loss or suffering inflicted for crime generally depended, elsewhere, on the pleasure or caprice of the rulers or judges; but among the Jews, nothing was left to them by the supreme legislators. As no delay in the execution of the sentence of the law was admissible, no instruction was given to provide prisons. This strikingly accorded with the awful nature of the constitution prescribed by Moses, justly named "the ministration of death." Had this argument been adverted to, Christians, at least, would not have been surprised that instant death should be pronounced on all judged worthy of it. The principle which indicates the propriety of animal sacrifice for sin is applicable to immediate punishment of death. The administration of Jehovah had not yet demonstrated to all the perfection of his justice, so that man might discern clearly that without an adequate expiation, death for death,

no human being could find forgiving mercy with his Creator. But Jesus of Nazareth, having vindicated, by his death for the world, the Divine government and laws, with Divine propriety declared that the law of retaliation, life for life, eye for eye, and the like, had no place in his administration. Now certainly no one who respects his authority requires to be taught by precept or example that "the soul that sinneth shall die."

Moreover, unequivocal signs that God was the supreme King of the Jews were frequently witnessed by all intelligent observers of events in relation to that people. His principal ministers were supernaturally endowed; and the deeds by which this was manifested were performed in the view of all. Their power over life and death, over the elements of nature, and sometimes over the minds of men, was not exercised in secret or by arts of deception, like the pretended diviners and priests of the gods of other nations. They acted without disguise in the presence of all ranks and characters, and claimed no personal superiority over their contemporaries. They wrought all in the name of God, and resolutely declined reward from man. Neither honour nor disgrace influenced their ministrations. And the people were miraculously punished or saved, obtained unparalleled prosperity, or endured extreme calamity, according as they were obedient or disobedient to the mandates of Jehovah, their Sovereign, Lawgiver, and Judge.

Finally, their national constitution strongly enforced universal kindness and courtesy, and, consequently, friendly intercourse with all men, while it strictly prohibited offensive or defensive alliances with idolatrous nations or communities, or intermarriages with individual idolaters. In national policy and religion, they were to stand alone among the nations. Though on this account they might be regarded by superficial thinkers the enemies of mankind, yet this was absolutely necessary for the attainment of the great end of their separation to serve God, considering the state of the nations, especially of those in their vicinity.

In the age of Moses, the whole world had apostatised from God, and idolatry seems to have been established, by law or custom, in every nation. But no communities had become more degraded in morals or polluted in religion than those occupying the countries of Syria, Palestine, and Arabia Petræa, where four hundred years earlier the true God was worshipped. This dreadful degeneracy was probably chiefly effected by those who had enslaved the multitude. And these were, we know, the wisest of the age, who doubtless discerned that a religion which made the many to trust their future well-being to the power of the few, and ministered, at the same time, to their pleasures, was that alone which could retain the people in political slavery. Such was the nature of all the ancient forms of idolatry. By the abuse of physical, and especially of astronomical knowledge, which assumed the name of astrology, the wise deluded the unreflecting and sensual. Claiming the offices of kings and priests, by the deceptive arts and careful observances of the appearances of nature in the different seasons of the year, they easily performed, or rather seemed to perform deeds superhumau in the eyes of the ignorant. Nothing was then more natural than to ascribe their power to invisible fellowship with the heavenly bodies and invisible agents, whom they confessed could alone enable them

to perform superhuman works. These agencies became gods; and their ministers, by continually adding whatever rites they conceived adapted to please the people, to those already observed by them, formed the various corrupted modes of idolatrous worship, which were rapidly spread over the earth by conquerors, colonization, and

commerce.

Language cannot depict the sanguinary and licentious forms of superstition which prevailed in Canaan and the neighbouring countries. This is evident to every reader of the sacred Scriptures. And how strongly Israel were disposed to imitate their neighbours, appears in every age of their history, before the Babylonian capti vity. How suitable, important, and even indispensable was then the injunction that they should live alone, and utterly abominate the gods of the nations?

The peoples, by whose manners Israel were in the greatest danger of being contaminated and demoralized in the earliest periods of their history, were the Egyptians, the surviving Canaanites, the Philistines, Tyrians and Sidonians, the Midianites, Moabites, and Ammonites; and the Edomites and Syrians. We refer the reader to the brief account of these, given under their respective names in the Pocket Biblical Dictionary. Almost every one of these races had lost power to inflict much injury on Israel before the period of their history to be reviewed in the subsequent chapters. Foreigners had conquered them, and continued to tyrannise over them. The very forms of their religion had been modified; and its most barbarous features had disappeared. Those on the borders of Canaan had been carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar; and were probably permitted by Cyrus to return to their native lands. Some of them, we know, were afterwards numerous; but none of them, except the Edomites or Idumeans, seem to have recovered their former greatness; and they gradually disappeared as distinct races or nations; and probably the survivors became marauders, and were not distinguishable from the Arabs, whose mode of life they imitated. It may be remarked in general, that the descendants of these races cherished, in all ages, the implacable enmity to Israel, which characterised their ancestors. Of this we shall see many proofs in the future history of the chosen people.

CHAPTER II.

BRIEF REVIEW OF THE RISE, DECLINE, AND CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL.

IN the investigation of the state of the world before the time of N buchadnezzar, the Old Testament is the exclusive certain guide; all allusions to the subject by uninspired historians, philosophers, or poets, are uncertain or fabulous. And of the ancient races of mankind, whose character, conduct, and deeds, had no apparent or immediate influence on the race of Abraham, the sacred writers record almost nothing, except a brief notice of their origin and dispersion over the globe.