Joshua 20.

fell upon them. And the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, and they smote them, and chased them unto Zidon, until they left them none remaining. And Joshua houghed their horses', and burnt their chariots with fire.

[The two great victories at Beth-horon and the Waters of Merom had secured for Joshua all the Central and Southern parts of the land, and made any further coalition of the Canaanites impossible. But there was much of the land still unconquered, and it remained for each tribe to complete the subjugation of that part of its possessions which had been assigned to it. This, however, many of the tribes did not do; some preferred to live side by side with the Canaanites, while others made them tributary.

Division of the Land by Lot. Meanwhile the Tent of Meeting was set up at Shiloh, from which place Joshua sent out three men chosen from each tribe with instructions to walk through the land and describe it' and return to him at Shiloh. On their return, Joshua divided the land among the tribes by lot. Roughly speaking the division was as follows:

1. The Northern part was assigned to Asher, Naphtali, Zebulun, Issachar, and part of Dan.

2. The Central part to Half-Manasseh and Ephraim.

3. The Southern part to Benjamin, Judah, part of Dan and Simeon. 4. The East of Jordan was assigned to Half-Manasseh, Gad and Reuben. Forty-eight cities, each 'with land a thousand cubits round about', were assigned to the Levites, six of which were Cities of Refuge.]

Six Cities of Refuge are appointed. And the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Assign you the cities of refuge, that the manslayer that killeth any person unwittingly and unawares may flee thither; and they shall be unto you for a refuge from the avenger of blood. And he shall flee unto one of those cities and shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city; and they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then shall they not deliver up the manslayer into his hand; because he smote his neighbour unawares, and hated him not beforetime. And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgement, until the death of the high-priest that shall be in those days: then shall the manslayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the

1 houghed their horses, i. e. ham-strung them, so as to render them unfit for war.

city from whence he fled.' And they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. And beyond the Jordan they assigned Bezer in the wilderness in the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.

Joshua sends the Trans-Jordanic Tribes Home. Then Joshua 22. Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the halftribe of Manasseh, and said unto them, ‘Ye have kept all that Moses commanded you, and have hearkened unto my voice in all that I commanded you. And now the LORD your God hath given rest unto your brethren: therefore now get you unto the land of your possession, which Moses gave you beyond Jordan. Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.' So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away: and they went unto their tents.

The Trans-Jordanic Tribes build the Altar of Witness. And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, to go unto the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession. And when they came unto the region about Jordan, they built there an altar by Jordan, a great altar to see to 1. And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war. And the children of Israel sent unto the Reubenites and the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest; and with him ten princes. And they came unto them unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying, 'Thus saith the whole congregation of the LORD, What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, in that ye have builded you an altar, to rebel this day against the LORD?' Then the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, saying, 'In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? for the LORD 1 to see to, i. e. ' to behold.'

hath made Jordan a border between us and you. Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice: but it shall be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that your children may not say to our children in time to come, Ye have no portion in the LORD. God forbid that we should turn away this day from following the LORD, to build an altar for sacrifice, besides the altar of the LORD our God that is before his tabernacle.' And when Phinehas and the princes heard the words that the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh spake, it pleased them well. And Phinehas said, "This day we know that the LORD is in the midst of us, because ye have not committed this trespass against the LORD.' And Phinehas, and the princes, returned to the children of Israel, and brought them word again. And the thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and spake no more of going up against them to war. And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed: 'For,' said they, it is a witness between us that the LORD is God.'

[Joshua's farewell Address. Just before his death Joshua called together the representatives of the Twelve Tribes to Shechem, and there gave them his parting address. He reviewed their past history from the Call of Abraham up to the Settlement in Canaan, reminding them of the great and good things God had done for them, in that he had given them a land whereon they had not laboured, and cities which they built not, and vineyards and oliveyards which they planted not', and finally exhorting them to put away the strange gods from among them and serve God in sincerity and truth.' The people answered that 'they would serve God and hearken unto his voice', and so Joshua made a covenant with them, that they should keep their promise, and he set up a great stone near the Sanctuary of the LORD as a witness of the covenant. The Writer then tells us that Joshua died, being one hundred and ten years old, and was buried in Mount Ephraim. He also records the fact that the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought out of Egypt, were buried in Shechem.]

Summary of Further Conquests

[1. Exploits of Judah and Simeon. These two tribes acting in conjunction overcame Adoni-bezek in Bezek and punished him for his cruelty. They then took the town of Jerusalem, but could not take the citadel. Hormah also was

captured and destroyed, and the three strongholds of the Philistines, Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron, fell into their hands.

2. Exploits of Caleb and Othniel. Caleb took Hebron (Kiriath-arba) and claimed it as his own by right of a promise made to him by Moses. Othniel also captured Kiriath-sepher, and as a reward for his exploit, received the hand of his niece Achsah. But Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali and Dan allowed the Canaanites to remain in their territories and put them to tribute.]

Judges 3.

PART VI

THE PERIOD OF THE JUDGES

[AFTER the death of Joshua the want of a national leader, the callous indifference of some tribes, and petty jealousies of others, weakened the hands of the Israelites as a nation, and they soon became subject to their warlike neighbours. The Writer of the Book of Judges, recognizing the hand of God in shaping the destinies of the Chosen People, says that their servitude was sent as a Divine punishment for their sins; They followed other gods and bowed themselves down to them, and provoked the LORD to anger, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about.'

The Judges were either—(1) men raised up by God to deliver the Israelites from their oppressors, who after they had accomplished their mission undertook the office and duties of a magistrate or ruler, such as Gideon and Jephthah; or (2)‘champion warriors', who by their own deeds of might rescued the Israelites from the foreign yoke, such as Shamgar and Samson; or (3) 'civil judges', of whom no warlike exploits are recorded, such as Tola, Jair, Eli, and Samuel. Deborah seems to have performed the duties of a magistrate, prior to her becoming the leader of the movement against Jabin.

The rule of the Judges did not extend over all the land, but it paved the way towards the government of the whole nation by kings.

At Bochim the angel of the LORD appeared to the Israelites and rebuked them for their wickedness. And it came to pass, when the angel spake these words unto the children of Israel, that they lifted up their voices and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim '.']

First Oppression under Cushan-rishathaim. It extended over the Southern Part of the Land; the Deliverer was Othniel. And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baalim 2. Therefore

1 Bochim. The word means 'weepers'.

2 Baalim is the plural of Baal. The plural is used to denote all the false deities of the Canaanites.