universally addicted to unnatural and abominable crimes, it is right-it is best, that they should be swept from the earth. Such was the moral condition of the old world, before the deluge-such was the state of Sodom and Gomorrah; and such now was the moral character of the inhabitants of Canaan.

SECTION VI.

AI AGAIN ASSAULTED AND TAKEN BY STRATEGEM, AND UTTERLY DESTROYED-JOSHUA ERECTS AN ALTAR IN EBAL AND OFFERS SACRIFICES-WRITES A COPY OF THE LAW ON STONES-FROM MOUNT GERIZIM AND EBAL PRONOUNCES THE BLESSINGS AND THE CURSES.

ACHAN being now removed, the obstacle to a successful attack upon Ai no longer existed, and God commanded Joshua to march fearlessly against the place; saying, "I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land; and thou shalt do to Ai, and her king, as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves." Joshua was directed to place an ambush behind the city. Accordingly he selected thirty thousand men, and sent them off by night to take a position near the city, but behind it; with directions, that as soon as he and the main body of the army should come before the city, and by a feigned retreat should draw out the men of the city in pursuit, then they should rise up from their ambush, and seize the city, and set it on fire. That night Joshua lodged in the midst of the people; and early in the morning he arose and marshalled the host, and marched in their front, with the elders of Israel, up to Ai, and pitched on the north side of the city. Between the camp of the Israelites and Ai, there was a valley; here he placed another ambush on the west of the city, of five thousand men; and he himself spent that night in the midst of this valley. The king of Ai, flushed with his former victory, and confident of success, was not backward to commence hostilities; but he was not aware that he was almost encompassed by his enemies; and, especially, he had no suspicion of the ambush which lay concealed behind the city. Joshua and all Israel, as soon as they were attacked, "made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness." All the men of Ai instantly pursued after them, and were drawn away from the city,; so that there "was not a man left in Ai or Beth-el, that went not out after Israel." And fearing nothing, they left the city open. Joshua now gave the preconcerted signal to the men who lay in ambush, and "they arose, and entered into the city, and took it, and hasted, and set the city on fire." And when the men of Ai looked

behind them, they saw, and behold the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way; and the people of Israel who had fled towards the wilderness, turned back upon the pursuers, and seeing the smoke of the city ascending, they fell upon the men of Ai, and slew them. And the men who had seized the city now came forth, and attacked the men of Ai on the other side; so that being hemmed in by two armies, none of them were permitted to escape. But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. When the Israelites had smitten the inhabitants of Ai in the field, they proceeded, according to the commandment of the Lord, to put to the sword all who remained in the city. "And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand." "For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Only the cattle and the spoil, Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according to the word of the Lord, which he commanded Joshua. And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap and desolation for ever. And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree, until eventide; and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcass down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones.

Joshua having again proved victorious over his enemies, and being an eminently devout man, who had feared God from his youth, he availed himself of the interval of rest which he now enjoyed, to fulfil the command of God given to Moses, and he erected an altar in mount Ebal, to the Lord God of Israel. "As Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses. An altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lifted up any iron. And they offered thereon burnt-offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace-offerings. And he wrote these upon the stones, a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark, and on that side, before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord; as well the stranger as he that was born among them: half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them against mount Ebal; as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them." (Josh. viii.)

SECTION VII.

THE GIBEONITES DECEIVE JOSHUA AND THE PRINCES, AND OBTAIN FROM THEM AN OATH THAT THEY SHOULD NOT BE DESTROYED THE PEOPLE WOULD HAVE HAD THEM Tо VIOLATE THEIR ENGAGEMENT AND DESTROY THIS PEOPLE WHO HAD IMPOSED ON THEM-JOSHUA CONSIDERS THE OATH OBLIGATORY-THE GENERAL SUBJECT OF THE OBLIGATION OF VOWS.

HITHERTO the people of Canaan appear to have been so panicstruck, that they had not the consideration to enter into any league or combination with one another, to make opposition to the formidable host who had invaded the country. But at length, recovering, in a manner, from the stupor into which fear had cast them, they began to concert measures for their own defence. The kings which were in the hills and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, received intelligence of the progress of the invading army, and gathered together, with one accord, to fight with Joshua and with Israel.

But the Gibeonites, who were near, when they heard of the utter destruction of Jericho and Ai, and probably knew that Joshua's orders were to exterminate all the nations of Canaan, resolved to have recourse to deceit and cunning to avoid the impending destruction. "They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors; and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-bottles, old and rent, and bound up; and old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them. And all the bread of their provisions was dry and mouldy. And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country, and therefore make ye a league with us. And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, (for the Gibeonites belonged to this nation) peradventure ye dwell among us, and how shall we make a league with you? And they said unto Joshua, we are thy servants. And Joshua said, Who are ye? And whence come ye? And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come, because of the name of the Lord thy God; for we have heard the fame of Him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth; wherefore our elders, and all the inhabitants of our country, spake unto us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them; and say unto them, We are your servants, therefore, now make ye a league with us. This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses, in the day we came forth to go unto you; but now behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy.

And these bottles of wine which we filled were new, and behold, they are rent; and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them; and made a league with them to let them live; and the princes of the congregation sware unto them. And it came to pass, at the end of three days, after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them.' And on the third day, the children of Israel came to their cities, the names of which were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim. "And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel." But the congregation were not contented with the conduct of their princes in sparing the Gibeonites, and murmured against them on account of this thing, probably because they were disappointed in their expectation of the spoil of these wealthy cities. "But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel, now, therefore, we may not touch them. This we will do to them, we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them. And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation." "And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, we were very far from you, when you dwell among us? Now, therefore, ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. And they answered Joshua and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore, we were sore afraid of our lives, because of you, and have done this thing. And now behold, we are in thine hand; as it seemeth right unto thee to do unto us, do. And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hands of the children of Israel, that they slew them not." It would seem that it was attended with some difficulty to rescue these people out of the hands of the congregation, who were intent on their destruction. have ascribed this destructive inclination to avarice; but it may have originated in a conscientious regard to the divine authority; and to an opinion that an oath obtained by fraud and falsehood was not obligatory.

I

We noticed one wrong thing in Joshua, when Israel fled before the men of Ai; and here we find that he failed again in

that vigilance which was required by his high and responsible station. When the ambassadors of the Gibeonites appeared before him, and told a false but plausible story, Joshua entered into a treaty with them, without applying to the Lord for direction, which he had the privilege of doing at all times. By depending on appearances, and confiding in his own judgment, he was led into error, and connected Israel in a league with a people whom the Lord had positively commanded him to destroy.

In this transaction, we learn how solemn and inviolable is the obligation of an oath. Although this oath was obtained by fraud, and was injurious to the interests of the children of Israel; yet it was not judged lawful to nullify or violate it. No doubt there may be cases in which an oath, obtained by falschood and fraud, is void, and the person swearing is free from guilt, although he fails to perform what he has bound himself by an oath to do; but when we are deceived through our own negligence, and the thing promised is not in itself unlawful, an oath or vow is obligatory. No injury or inconvenience which the fulfilment will occasion the person, can exempt him from its sacred obligation. To take an oath is a solemn act of religion, but should never be resorted to, unless there exists a real necessity for it; and when a man has laid such a bond upon his soul, he should with all sincerity and fidelity perform the thing which has proceeded out of his mouth. "It is better not to vow, than to vow and not pay." And the upright man described in the fifteenth Psalm, is represented "as swearing to his hurt and not changing." The subjection of these Gibeonites to a state of bondage and servile labour, was a just punishment for the imposition which they practised.

SECTION VIII.

POWERFUL COMBINATION OF THE KINGS OF CANAAN TO DESTROY THE GIBEONITESJOSHUA IS MADE ACQUAINTED WITH THEIR DANGER, AND HASTENS TO THEIR RELIEF COMBINED KINGS DEFEATED-WONDERFUL MIRACLE OF THE SUN STANDING STILL-THE EXECUTION OF FIVE KINGS.

THE combination of most of the kings of the country was rendered more firm, in consequence of the conduct of the Gibeonites; for "Gibeon was a great city," and was situated in the very heart of the country. The chief of this combined force was Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, who associated with himself, Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Deber king of Eglon; and their first object was to smite Gibeon, on account of the defection of which city they were greatly incensed; and policy led them