Joshua appears to have governed the Israelites peaceably for about seventeen years after this occurrence; and at the expiration of that time he caused all the heads of the people to assemble at Shechem, in order to listen to his last injunctions, and to make a solemn renewal of their covenant with the God of their fathers. He briefly recapitulated the transactions of God with their nation; reminded them of the fulfillment of those gracious promises which had been first made to Abraham, and frequently repeated to his descendants; and earnestly exhorted them to evince the sincerity of their gratitude by the zeal and regularity of their worship: at the same time warning them of the direful consequences which would assuredly overtake them for perverseness or defection. He then made a solemn covenant with the congregation that they should put away all strange Gods, and direct their adoration solely to the Lord; and, having erected a stone monument near the sanctuary, he exclaimed "This stone shall be a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God." This ceremony being performed, and the vows of the Hebrews carefully registered in the book of the law, Joshua retired from the concerns of the world, and died, soon after, in the hundred and tenth year of his age: his remains were buried in the border of his own inheritance in Timnath Serah.

The death of this able commander was soon followed by that of the high-priest Eleazar, who was buried on a hill belonging to his son and succes sor Phinehas: and, about the same time, the body of Joseph, which had been brought out of Egypt by the Israelites, was interred, with due solemnity, in a piece of ground which the patriarch Jacob had purchased of the Shechemites

for a hundred pieces of silver, and which was now given, by lot, to the tribe of Joseph.

Notwithstanding the brilliant and repeated victories which had put the children of Israel in possession of Canaan, it appears that, at the time of Joshua's death, the Philistine satrapies and several other parts of the country remained unconquered. It was therefore deemed expedient to enquire of the Lord respecting the choice of a tribe to begin the war; and the Divine oracle immediately appointed Judah for that purpose. Accordingly Caleb, the son of Juphunneh, put himself at the head of his tribe, and, with the assistance of that of Simeon, made an expedition against the Canaanites, which proved so successful, that Adonibezek, king of Bezek, was taken prisoner and deprived of his thumbs and great toes as a suitable* punishment for a man of so cruel a disposition; Jerusalem, then inhabited by the Jebusites, was pillaged and burnt, while the astonished garrison took shelter in the fortress of Zion; the gigantic descendants of Anak were obliged to screen themselves from destruction in the strong cities of Kirjath-Sepher and Hebron; and the important satrapies of Ekron, Gaza, and Askelon, were soon reduced by an army which fought under the immediate protection of their God. Kirjath-Sepher was, also, soon annexed to the new acquisitions of Israel: for, Caleb having promised his daughter as a reward to the man. who should take it, Othniel the son of Kenaz undertook the dangerous enterprise, and received the due reward of his exalted merit.

*This monarch had, according to his own confession, caused the thumbs and great toes of seventy kings, prisoners of war, to be amputated; and obliged them to receive their food, like dogs, under his table.

Whilst Caleb, Othniel, and their valiant adherents, were exerting themselves for the security and aggrandisement of their nation, the other tribes neglected the express injunction of their legislator relative to the extirpation of their enemies; and instead of cutting off the old inhabitants, as God had commanded, they contented themselves with laying them under tribute; and after some time, were so imprudent as to intermarry with their families, and to provoke the ven geance of their Maker by various idolatrous practices, which involved them in many difficulties, and gave their foes an opportunity of regaining their liberty, and of taking an ample revenge for all their former losses.

B. C. During this period of confusion and apostacy, 1412. Micah *, a wealthy man of the tribe of Ephraim, restored to his mother eleven hundred pieces of silver which he had seized; and the woman was so transported with joy at the recovery of her property, that she immediately determined to expend the greatest part of it in what she deemed a religious use, and one that might possibly prove an equivalent blessing to those curses which, in her anger, she had vented against the author of her loss. Accordingly she caused two idols to be made, which, together with an ephod and teraphim, were placed in a particular part of the house, thence called an "house of gods." Micah's son was also consecrated as priest to the family: but after some time his office was transferred to an indigent young Levite.

*This and the following circumstance, though postponed till the latter end of the book of Judges, certainly happened at the above mentioned period, as we are told that the people had then no king (or judge), but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Meanwhile the Danites, finding themselves straitened for want of room, resolved to seek a new habitation; and accordingly sent out some spies, who, passing Micah's house, consulted the Levite concerning their success, and were so much encouraged by his answer that they went immediately to Laish, a town of considerable importance, but at that time inhabited by a rich and supine people who lived in the most careless security, without either magistrate, soldiery or other means of defence. Having taken a survey of this place, they hastened back to their employers with an accurate description of its wealth and defenceless situation; upon which the Danites of Zorah and Eshtaol armed six hundred of their men, and marched immediately toward Laish but on hearing that Micah had in his possession certain idols, and a priest of the tribe of Levi, they halted at Mount Ephraim, and, having forcibly taken the images, ephod, and teraphim from Micah's house, they obliged the young priest to attend them on their expedition. Micah followed them as hastily as possible, and complained bitterly that they had robbed him of every thing that was valuable; but the only answer he received was, that his outcries might probably cost him his life, and therefore it would be advisable for him to return home peaceably. Micah, having no alternative, was forced to submit to his grievous loss ; and the predatory Danites proceeded to Laish, which they burnt to the ground, and raised a new city upon its site, which they called Dan, after the name of their progenitor. There, also, they set up the idols which they had taken from Mount Ephraim, and young Jonathan was retained as the priest of their new gods.

B. C.

About six years after this transaction, the in.1406. habitants of Gibeah, in the tribe of Benjamin, committed such a dreadful outrage against an itinerant Levite and his unfortunate concubine, that every one who heard the tale was struck with horror, and all the other Israelites determined to inflict an adequate chastisement upon the delinquents. Accordingly they sent deputies to demand the delivery of the Gibeathites; but their message being treated with contempt, they vowed to take a severer revenge on the whole tribe of Benjamin; and Judah, after being twice repulsed, obtained a decisive victory over their apostate brethren, of whom twenty-five thousand were put to the sword, and six hundred were compelled to take shelter among the lofty rocks of Rimmon.

The resentment of the conquerors was not appeased by this effusion of blood: but they burnt down all the neighbouring cities and villages, and massacred the inhabitants without pity or distinction, till, at length, they imagined that they had utterly extirpated one of their tribes; and that supposition overwhelmed them with remorse and consternation. On hearing, however, that six hundred individuals had escaped the slaughter, they conceived an ardent wish for their restoration, and, after some consideration, adopted the following expedient. They caused a strict enquiry to be made concerning the tribes that had assembled at Mizpeh; and on finding that the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead, belonging to the half tribe of Manasseh, on the other side Jordan, had not attended the general summons, they sent a detachment of twelve thousand men to destroy all whom they should find in that city except the virgins, of whom four hundred were taken captive, and given to as many of the Ben