to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom, to the right hand or to the left; that ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you, neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them; neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them: but cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day. For the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand; for the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you. Take good heed, therefore, unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God. Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: know for a certainty, that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you. And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth, and ye know in all your hearts and all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you: all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the Lord your God promised you; so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from this good land, which the Lord your God hath given you. When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you."

Some time after the delivery of this solemn and admonitory discourse, Joshua collected, not merely the princes and heads of the tribes, and elders and officers, but gathered unto Shechem all the tribes of Israel, and addressed them as follows: "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor; and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and_multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac; and I gave unto Isaac, Jacob and Esau; and I gave unto Esau, mount Seir, to possess it, but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. Moses also and Aaron, and plagued Egypt, according to that

I sent

which I did amongst them, and afterward I brought you out. And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ye came unto the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers, with chariots and horsemen, unto the Red sea. And when they cried unto the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt; and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season. And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan; and they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel; and sent and called Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you; but I would not hearken unto Balaam, therefore he blessed you still, and I delivered you out of his hand. And ye went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho; and the men of Jericho fought against you; the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hand. 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 dwell in them: of the vineyards and olive-yards which ye planted not do ye eat. Now, therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him, in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose ye this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served, that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." "And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods. For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up, and our fathers, out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drave out from before us, all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land; therefore will we also serve the Lord, for he is our God. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is an holy God: he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay, but we will serve the Lord. And Joshua

said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen you the Lord, to serve him; and they said, We are witnesses." "Now, therefore," (said he,) "put away the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these 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 Joshua said unto all the people, behold this stone shall be a witness unto us: for it hath heard all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken unto us: and it shall, therefore, be a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. And Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance."

"And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance, in Timnath-serah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash. And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel.

"And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for an hundred pieces of silver; and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

"And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim."

Thus all the men of this pious and obedient generation were gathered to their fathers. Probably the period which intervened between the conquest of the land, and the decease of Joshua, Eleazar, and their contemporaries, was the most peaceful and prosperous which this nation ever enjoyed; confirming practically the truth of that aphorism of Solomon, RIGHTEOUS

NESS EXALTETH A NATION.

SECTION XV.

JUDAH AND SIMEON DIRECTED TO ATTACK THE CANAANITES-THOUGH SUCCESSFUL THEY COULD NOT EXPEL THE CANAANITES FROM EVERY PART OF THEIR LOTBENJAMIN NOT ABLE TO EXPEL THE JEBUSITES-MANASSEH VERY UNSUCCESSFUL IN RECLAIMING THEIR POSSESSION-SOLEMN MESSAGE OF THE ANGEL OF GODCHARACTER OF THE GENERATION WHO FIRST POSSESSED CANAAN-THE PEOPLE FORSAKE GOD AFTER THE DECEASE OF THIS GENERATION-GOD RAISES UP JUDGES -WHEN THE JUDGES WERE DEAD THEY AGAIN GRIEVOUSLY PROVOKED GOD TO ANGER.

AFTER the death of Joshua, it was determined to make a fresh attack upon the Canaanites, a large number of whom continued in the midst of the Israelites, and retained the possession of some very important places; but it was piously resolved to ask counsel of God, and to ascertain his will, in regard to the particular tribes which should engage in this expedition. The answer of the Lord was, that Judah should go up against the Canaanites; and it was promised that the land should be delivered into his hand. But as the lot of Simeon was included in that of Judah, so that they might be said to have a common interest in the conquest, it was agreed that they should unite their forces, until the conquest was completed. The king who made most resistance was Adoni-bezek, whom they found in Bezek, which no doubt was his residence and possession; for his name signifies "the lord of Bezek;" and they readily subdued all that opposed them, and slew ten thousand men in Bezek. Adoni-bezek, seeing his forces routed, fled, but the Israelites pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. And this was a just retaliation for his own acknowledged cruelties; and he seems to have felt the justice of the treatment, for he said, "Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table. As I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there

he died."

The tribe of Judah engaged in many successive expeditions against the Canaanites that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley.

In the former part of this history, we saw that Moses earnestly entreated Jethro, his father-in-law, to cast in his lot among them, and go with them; for his past experience of his piety and wisdom led him to think that his presence would be very serviceable in all their journey through the wilderness. This invitation Jethro at first declined; but Moses entreated him with great earnestness not to leave them. It does not there appear, however, whether he prevailed with his father-in-law to accompany him or not. But here the writer of the book of

Judges decides this point, by saying, "And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up out of the city of palmtrees, with the children of Judah, into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people." But although the children of Judah and Simeon were successful in their wars with the Canaanites, and extended their conquests into the country of the Philistines, which was included in the inheritance of Judah, and although they were able in general to expel the Canaanites from the mountains, "they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron." And although the children of Judah had succeeded in taking that section of Jerusalem which lay within their border, yet the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites continued for a long time to dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem. (Judg. i. 8-21.)

The children of Joseph also were not negligent in endeavouring to expel the Canaanites from their inheritance. They directed their efforts against the city of Bethel; but the former name was Luz. They sent spies to explore the condition of this city, and when they drew near, they saw a man come out of the city; and they promised that they would show him mercy, if he would discover to them the entrance of the city; and when the city was taken, and the inhabitants slain with the sword, this man and all his family were preserved. "And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and named it Luz.”

But Manasseh was not so successful as the tribes just mentioned, in driving out the people who remained in the lot of their inheritance. In Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, and Megiddo, the Canaanites continued to dwell, and could not be expelled. But when Israel was strong they were made tributary. Besides, there were many places in all the remaining tribes, from which the Canaanites were not driven out; but the children of Dan were not only unable to dispossess the original inhabitants, but "the Amorites forced them into the mountain, and would not suffer them to come down to the valley. The fact was, that the Israelites did not faithfully address themselves to execute the commandment of Jehovah, in relation to the inhabitants of Canaan; but after a while began to live familiarly with them, and to engage in commerce, and enter into alliances with them. This disobedience, from whatever motive it might spring, was very displeasing to God; and as those leaders were dead through whom the Lord commonly had communicated his will to the children of Israel, he now sent them a solemn message and reproof by his angel; that is, the angel of the covenant, who had accompanied them through all their