land of Gilead and the oak forests of Bashan; he saw, on the other side of the Jordan, the plains of Naphtali, and Manasseh, and Ephraim, down to the shores of the western sea; and he enclosed in his eager survey the mountain passes of Judah, and the vale of the Jordan, and the Dead Sea, with Jericho, and Hebron, and Engedi, down to Zoar.

As he gazed upon the beautiful land, it faded from his sight, the shadows of death enfolded him--and the great prophet passed away into the presence of his God. No human eye saw his death, no human tongue could tell the place of his sepulchre.

'And there arose no other prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do, in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.'

It is impossible to read the account of the Israelites' wanderings in the desert, and of their first conquests in the east of the Jordan, without feeling our admiration, nay, our reverence, for the character of Moses increasing step by step. He was the deliverer of the Hebrews, their legislator, their teacher, their judge, their general, the faithful servant, the favoured messenger of God. Undimmed by the mist of ages, his image stands before us in bright and clear outline. Round him are grouped all other figures distinguished in his time. The wonderful pictures left to us in the narrative of the Pentateuch ever show his noble form pre-eminent. We are not confined to a faint and shadowy likeness; we see and hear the living man, in the full reality of his work and mission, in all the beauty of his meekness, in all his patience under bitter troubles-in faith and obedience sublime and all but perfect. From his cradle among the bulrushes down to his mysterious mountain tomb on the

heights of Pisgah, his life seems to have been directed and guided by a miraculous hand. Born of Hebrew parents, in a time of danger and oppression, and in a country marked above all others by idolatry and hatred of the stranger, wondrously saved from a cruel death, adopted by the daughter of a mighty king, nurtured in an Egyptian palace, Moses might seem like the hero of some fanciful legend. But more ordinary and more human features, intermixed with the wonderful, prove the reality of the story. We read how, with a generous and unabating love for his unhappy brethren, with a quick feeling for the wronged and the oppressed, Moses avenged an ill-treated Hebrew, and thus forfeited a life of peace and luxury at the court of Pharaoh. Escaping to Midian, he appears here also, and on his very arrival, as a protector of the weak against the strong. Though soon finding a home and domestic happiness in the house of the wise shepherd-priest Jethro, he never forgot the misery of his distant brethren, and the high destinies of the Hebrews, the descendants of Abraham and the inheritors of the glorious promises he had received. In those wild and deserted tracts, where nature assumes a grander and more imposing aspect than in the flat and sandy plains of Egypt, Moses communed for the first time with the Lord. The bush burning with the fire of heaven, and the voice of the angel coming to the solitary shepherd, awakened his heart to the feeling that he had a special mission to fulfil. But his modesty and humility blunted his courage; he could not believe that he was elected for so grand a purpose. This struggle between his timid diffidence and his faith recurred, in many forms, throughout his life; it reveals a soul stirred by Divine aspirations, but checked by the consciousness of its human weakness. When the ten fearful plagues spread terror and ruin over Egypt, though constantly prominent before the king and the people, he desired to be no more

than a frail and weak instrument in the hand of God, announcing His will and executing His decrees, without personal ambition, without seeking honour for himself. And what grand proportions did his figure attain at the wonderful times of the exodus! His courage, his prudence, his military skill were equal even to so great and extraordinary an emergency. Combining shrewdness and valour, he defied the watchfulness of the Egyptians, and enhanced the confidence of the Hebrews, whose great model and trusty guide he thenceforth became. When the pursuing enemies, with their swift horses and proud chariots, had found their graves in the Red Sea, the military leader proved a sublime poet; pious gratitude inspired him with a hymn of praise of singular force and beauty. And when during the forty weary years of wandering in the desert, the people, rebellious and discontented, overwhelmed him with taunting and upbraiding words, when they basely longed to return to the ignominy of Egyptian serfdom, when sickness and death wasted their numbers, when they were slain by the enemy's sword, by terrible plagues, and heaven-sent fire, he never faltered, remaining true to his mission, obedient to his God; distrustful of himself, he prayed for the people, interceded for them, forgave their recklessness and their jealousy, taught, led, and judged them, strengthened their hope, and loved them with a never-failing love. When they desponded, he raised their courage; when they revolted, he brought them back to God. He in whose soul burnt the fire of a consuming passion, who in a moment of wrath could dash to pieces the tablets received from God, when the degrading sight of the people's idolatry filled him with horror and agony, was yet the meekest of all men who ever lived on earth.

IV. THE TIME OF JOSHUA.

[JOSHUA I.-XXIV.]

63. CAPTURE AND DESTRUCTION OF JERICHO.

[JOSHUA I-VII.]

6

JOSHUA, the friend and devoted assistant of Moses, had been prepared for his important and difficult mission by receiving the Divine spirit that had worked so manifestly in his great master. He was essentially a bold and martial man, eager for conquest, courageous in the battlefield, and scrupulous in faith and pious obedience. His strong arm never wearied, his energy and promptitude never failed. His very name, Jeho-shuah, God is my help,' might have been his war-cry when he burst with irresistible vehemence on his heathen enemies. Upon him devolved the difficult task of wresting the land of Palestine from its ancient possessors, and of portioning it out among the chosen people. Cities had to be captured or razed to the ground, and populations to be exterminated, before the Israelites could occupy the narrow strip of land between the river of Egypt and the range of the Lebanon, including the rugged hills of Judah and the blooming plains of Samaria; though the ambition and bravery of later chiefs and leaders extended their dominions considerably eastward towards the regions of the Euphrates.

When the thirty days of mourning for Moses had expired, Joshua sent two spies from the camp at Shittim westward over the Jordan, in order to explore the adjacent country, and especially the neighbourhood round Jericho and this important town itself. The men went, and came to the house of Rahab, which bordered on the wall of the city. When the news reached the king of Jericho, who had doubtlessly watched the movements of the invading hosts with great anxiety, he at once sent to the woman, and bid her give up the two strangers. But Rahab, whether foreseeing the great triumphs of the Hebrews, or fearing their God, was determined to save the lives of her guests by stratagem. She hid them on the broad roof of her house, amongst the stalks of flax which she had there piled up; and when the king's messengers came, she told them that the men had left her at dusk, and had departed from the city, she did not know whither. Pursue after them quickly,' she urged eagerly, 'for you shall surely overtake them.' Away sped the messengers to the fords towards the Jordan. Then Rahab went up to the men to the roof of the house, and entreated them thus: "I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that your terror has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land tremble before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts melted, nor did there remain any courage in any man on account of you: for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. Now, therefore, I pray you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you will also show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token; and