hemorrhoids, or the piles, with a mortal destruction. The land also swarmed with jerboas, whereby the products of the fields were consumed. Attributing these calamities to the presence of the ark, they sent it to Gath, where it remained until the pressure of the same inflictions compelled them to send it from them. It was taken to Ekron, another of the five metropolitan cities of Philistia. The Ekronites received it with terror, crying, They have brought round to us the ark of the God of Israel to slay us and our people." They therefore, in an assembly of “the lords of the Philistines," proposed that the ark should be sent back to its own place in the land of Israel. This was determined; nor was the determination too soon, for already the hand of God was so heavy upon Ekron, that "the cry of the city went up to the heavens." And that it might be sent away with all honor, the diviners, who were consulted as to the best means of giving effect to the intention which had been formed, counselled that five golden hemorrhoids, and five golden mice, one from each of the Philistine states, should be deposited in a coffer beside the ark, as a trespass-offering: for even thus early the custom had come into use of making votive offerings representing the instruments of affliction, or of the parts afflicted, to the god to whom the infliction or the cure was attributed. That they might give the glory to the God of Israel, and not harden their hearts as did the Egyptians, and thereby bring upon themselves the punishments of that people, were the reasons by which this course of conduct was enforced. And they are remarkable as showing the effect, even at this remote date, upon the neighboring nations, of the wonders of judgment and deliverance which had been wrought in the land of Egypt.

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To testify all possible respect, the ark was placed in a new car, to which were yoked two kine, whose necks had never before been subjected to the yoke. Their calves were tied up at home; and, by the advice of the priests, it was concluded to leave the cows free to take their own course: if the animals went away from their calves to the land of Israel, it was to be inferred that a right judgment had been formed of the cause from which their calamities proceeded; but if not, they might conclude that it had been the result of natural causes. From such incidents the heathen were even thus early accustomed to conjecture the will of their gods. In this case, no sooner were the kine set free than they turned their backs upon their young, and took the road toward the town of Bethshemesh in Judah, being the nearest city of the Levites toward the Philistine frontier. It was the time of the wheat-harvest, when the people of the town were abroad in the valley reaping the fruits of their fields. They beheld the ark advancing with great gladness; and when the kine stopped of their own accord, near a great stone, in a field belonging to one Joshua, the Levites who were present detached them from the car, and offered them up in sacrifice upon that stone before the ark. And the stone being thus consecrated by sacrifice, the ark was removed from the car and deposited thereon. The five lords of the Philistines, who

CARS DRAWN BY OXEN.-That the Philistines thought of placing the ark on a car, to be drawn by oxen, shows that vehicles drawn by such animals were in use among them, at least in their sacred processions. There is nothing of the kind among the Egyptians. Their religious processions were walking processions, and by water: that is to say, as all their towns were along the Nile, their religious progresses from one place to another were by that river, the short distances to and from which they walked, bearing their arks, their idols, and their implements of religious service. The Jews had no religious processions after they became a settled people-unless it were in the removals of the ark; which removals resulted from circumstances, for it was intended to be stationary. It was indeed not unlawful to take the ark to the wars; but the only instance in which this is recorded to have been done, was when it was taken by the Philistines. In the wilderness the ark was carried on the shoulders of the Levites, as were the other more sacred utensils of the tabernacle; but the fabric itself, and its heavier furniture, were placed on cars or wagons drawn by ozen. The ark itself was never thus conveyed, except on the various stages of its return from the Philistines. For the Israelites, observing that those people had in this manner transported it safely, continued its removal in the same manner, until the consequences that ultimately ensued, reminded them of the more proper method.

Among the Egyptians, horses appear to have been invariably employed for draught, whether in chariots of war or peace. But, although they had not themselves the custom, their sculptures coincide with the Scriptures in manifesting the use of oxen or kine for draught by other nations. All our examples adduced to illustrate the subjects of carts, apply to the present, since all the carts there represented, from ancient and modern sources, are drawn by oxen, equally with the more elegant class of vehicles represented in the present instance; and, taken together, they demonstrate the extensive use of oxen for dranght in both the ancient and modern East. After Solomon, the Hebrews learned from the Egyptians and their nearer neighbors to have chariots of war drawn by horses; and kings and high military commanders appear to have had their private chariots also drawn by horses. To these and agricultural purposes, wheel carriages seem to have been very much confined; but, as far as they were used, they appear, except in the cases specified, to have been drawn by oxen. The use of war-chariots has now nearly disappeared in the East, and with it the employment of horses for draught. Oxen are employed everywhere, from the Yellow sea to the Mediterranean. And in our present engravings, the elegance of the vehicles, and the cost and finish of the equipments, show that to ride in a car drawn by oxen is not, nor was, considered a mode of conveyance by any means so rude or ignoble as the illustrations at first sight might have suggested.

had followed the car to the borders of Bethshemesh (which was twelve miles distant from Ekron), and who had stood witnessing these proceedings, now returned home, well convinced that it was the hand of the God of Israel by which they had been smitten. The ark had been in their hands seven months.

The adventures of the ark, and its constant exposure to their sight, begat in the Bethshemites a familiarity toward it, inconsistent with the respect due to Jehovah, and which it was highly necessary to repress. When therefore their familiarity went so far that they ventured to raise the cover of the ark, to gratify their curiosity with a view of its contents, sixty of their number-principal persons of the place-were smitten with death. On this the people cried, with great consternation, "Who is able to stand before this holy God, Jehovah? and to whom shall he go from us?" They decided to invite the people of Kirjath-jearim to take the ark away. They did so, and deposited it in the house of Aminadab " upon the hill." This person set apart his son Eleazer to take the charge of it-to preserve it from pollution, and to keep all things clean and orderly about it. Thus it remained about eighty-two years. Why it was not returned to Shiloh does not very clearly appear. Probably no command on the subject was given; and from the experience which the Israelites now had of the jealousy with which its sanctity was guarded, they were afraid to remove it without express orders. Besides, at this time the people were again far gone into idolatrous practices, which made them comparatively indifferent about the ark; and it is not unlikely that the reaction of the sentiment of astonishment and grief with which its loss had been regarded, did much to impair that veneration of which it had been the object. Add to this that they had been without the ark for seven months, in the course of which they had accustomed their minds to the want of it, and had learned to regard it as less essential to them than it had before seemed. The tabernacle still remained at Shiloh, which continued to be the seat of the appointed ministrations, until it was removed, in the reign of Saul, to Nob, probably in consequence of the destruction of Shiloh in the Philistine war (1 Sam. xiv. 3; Jer. vii. 12-14, xxvi. 6–9). For their idolatries and alienation, the Hebrews were punished by twenty years continuance (including the seven months of the ark's absence) of their subjection to the Philistines.

It is usually stated that Samuel succeeded Eli. He was then little more than twenty years of age; and although, as his years advanced, he doubtless acquired much authority among the people from the influence of his character and position, there is no evidence that it was any other than that which prophets usually exercised. It rather appears from the text that it was after the twenty years of further servitude to the Philistines, that Samuel was publicly called to assume the civil government.

At the end of these twenty years the people "lamented after the Lord," or repented of the sins by which they had alienated themselves from him, and were disposed to return to their allegiance. Samuel then came forward in his prophetic character, and promised them deliverance from the Philistines, if they would put away the strange gods-the Baals and Ashtaroths (representing the sun and moon), and devote themselves to the exclusive service of Jehovah. His directions were followed; and he then convened an assembly of all Israel at Mizpeh, where they held a solemn fast and humiliation for their sins, and poured out water before Jehovah, as expressive of their despondency or grief. And to testify their good intentions for the future, the prophet himself was there invested by them with the authority of a "judge."

The Philistines took umbrage at this great assembly in Mizpeh, which, they rightly judged, boded no good to the continuance of their dominion. They assembled their forces and marched to that place, to disperse the congregation. The people, not being prepared for war, were filled with alarm on the approach of their enemies, and be sought Samuel to cry to Jehovah for them, that he might save them from the hand of the Philistines. Samuel did so with great earnestness; and he was in the act of offering up a lamb as a burnt-offering, when the Philistines drew near to battle. The prayers of the prophet were then answered by a terrible storm of thunder and lightning, by which the enemy were alarmed and confounded, while the Israelites, recognising the sign, were inspired with sudden and indomitable courage. They fell impetuously upon the force they had so lately dreaded, and slew vast numbers of them, chasing the remainder as far as Betchcar. In memory of this great victory, Samuel set up a memorial-stone, and gave it the name of Ebenezer (the help-stone), saying, "Hitherto Jehovah hath helped us."

This very brilliant victory broke the spirit of the Philistines for many years. They were obliged to restore all their conquests from the Israelites; and, for many years to come, they kept carefully within their own territories, and abstained from any hostile acts against the Hebrews. Their example was followed by the other neighbors of Israel, which hence enjoyed the felicity of a profound peace during the entire period of Samuel's sole administration.

This excellent judge administered justice regularly to the tribes in his annual circuit, which he took to the places of sacred stones at Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and constantly at his own place of abode at Ramah, where he built an altar to Jehovah. This was probably by the divine permission or direction, at least for the present, as God had not yet given any declaration where the ark was to be fixed.

The sole administration of Samuel lasted twelve years, dating it, as we do, from the end of the Philistine servitude, and not from the death of Eli. Near the close of this period, when the prophet was "growing old and gray-headed," being sixty-four years of age, he appointed his sons, Joel and Abiah, to act for him at Bethel and Beersheba. But they walked not in the steps of their father. They turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment."

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This misconduct of his sons, with his own advancing age, and the seemingly unsettled state in which the government would be left at his death, were among the causes which at this time induced the elders of Israel to resort to Samuel at Ramah, and to demand of him that a king should be appointed to reign over them, as in other nations.

The causes which we have just stated, together with the regular administration of justice to which Samuel had accustomed them, occasioned the demand, it would seem, at this particular time; but there were deeper causes which would unquestionably have brought them to this point ere long, if it had not now. These causes have been well discriminated by Jahn.

This able writer justly refers the frequent interruptions to the welfare of the Hebrew state under the judges to-"1. The effeminacy and cowardice of the people; and, 2, to the disunion and jealousy of the tribes, who never assisted each other with the requisite zeal and alacrity. But as this effeminacy arose from the vices of idolatry, and their cowardice from a want of confidence in Jehovah; so the disunion and jealousy of the tribes, though selfishness was the immediate cause, arose from a disposition to neglect their divine king, and not to consider themselves as the united and only people of Jehovah. This disposition, if it did not originate from, was at least very much heightened by the multiplication of deities. Thus both these causes of their misfortunes owed their origin to idolatry, that great cause of all their calamities, so often mentioned in the sanctions of the law. Thus the people, by increasing their gods, enervated themselves, and prepared for themselves those sufferings and chastisements by which they were again to be brought back to their King, Jehovah." He proceeds to observe that "These causes of national misfortune were all in operation at the time of Samuel, and threatened to produce after his death still greater calamities. The tribes beyond the Jordan had forinidable enemies in the Aumonites and the southern tribes in the Philistines, while the northern tribes stood aloof from the dangers of their more exposed countrymen. The latter seems to have been the principal reason why the rulers in general assembly requested a king. The tribes in Southern Palestine and beyond the Jordan were the most earnest for this change in the government; they feared that the death of Samuel would leave them without a su preme magistrate, and that the nation being again disunited, they should be left to their fate. The degeneracy of Samuel's sons, who had been appointed subordinate judges, or deputies, increased their apprehensions. They, therefore, strenuously insisted on their demand, Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations." They had reason to hope that a king invested with supreme authority might be able to unite the power of the whole nation and protect each tribe with the collected strength of all; that under him the affairs of government would be more promptly administered and necessary aid more readily afforded; that if he were a man devoted to Jehovah, he could more effectually repress or prevent idolatry, and thus place the welfare of the state on a more solid foundation. They might imagine themselves justified in this request as Moses had taken it for granted that the nation would eventually have a king, and the same thing had been promised to their great progenitor Abraham. It conduces greatly to the honor of the Hebrews that

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they attempted this change in their constitution, not by their own power, but in accordance with the principles of the theocracy; they requested it of their king, Jehovah, by the intervention of a prophet, and they elected it without bloodshed,—a manifest proof that the time of the judges was neither what is usually understood by a 'barbarous' nor an heroic age.'

But as all the objects which they desired to realise were attainable under the theocracy, were they but faithful to its principles and engagements; and as the unseen king, Jehovah, would necessarily be obscured by a subordinate, visible monarch, he, by means of Samuel, gave the rulers to understand his disapprobation of their request; and at the same time represented to them the burdens they would have to bear under a king, especially how easily he might be led to imitate other oriental monarchs, and to disregard the law of Jehovah.

The picture which was then drawn by Samuel exhibits in a lively manner the character of the monarchies which at that time existed in the east, and enables us to ascertain that, whatever changes may have taken place in particular states, the mo narchical principle as it then existed has been preserved to this day in its full vigor in the east. This is so true, that there is no royal usage mentioned by Samuel which may not be illustrated and explained from the modern sovereignties of that part of the world. The statement must have seemed the more effective from the implied contrast to the mild and gentle character of that service which the Lord, as king of Israel, had required. Samuel reminded them that their kings would soon fall into the state of other monarchs, to support which the heaviest exactions upon their persons and estates would become necessary. He would take their young men and employ them as charioteers and horsemen, and even (according to the Egyptian custom) as runners before and about his chariot.* A standing army would deprive them of the valuable services of their young men; and if this were not enough, the king of a future day would "take them to till his ground and to make his instruments of war and the furniture of his chariots. In like manner the daughters of Israel, who should marry and bring up children, would be largely taken to minister to the luxury of the court as " confectioners and bakers." Nor would he much scruple to take the chosen and best of their male and female slaves, as well as their laboring cattle, and "put them to his own work." And then to support his expenses, the heaviest exactions would be necessary; and although the kingly tenth were already appropriated to Jehovah, the divine king, not the less would their human king exact his kingly dues; thus, in fact, rendering their burdens greater than those of any other nation. A clear intimation was also given them of the danger to which their landed possessions would be ultimately exposed under the form of government which they so much desired. For the expression, "He will take the best of your fields, and of your vineyards, and of your olive-yards, and give them to his servants," manifestly refers to the fact that, inasmuch as their true king, Jehovah, was the sovereign proprietor of the soil, and as such had long before distributed the whole in inalienable estates among the people, whatever human king they might have, would necessarily stand in the, then and there, peculiar position, being only a civil governor, and not, like the neighboring king, also the territorial sovereign; and that hence, wanting the means of providing for his family and servan's which other kings possessed, he would be tempted to avail himself of all kinds of pretences to dispossess them of the lands which they held from their divine king. "His servants ye will become," concludes the prophet. "And ye shall cry out in that day because of the king that ye have chosen: but Jehovah will not hear you in that day."

The purpose of the people was, however, too firmly fixed to be shaken even by this discouraging representation. An acquiescence in their demand was therefore reluctantly conceded, probably, as Jahn conjectures, "because the desired change was requested of the invisible King in a lawful manner, through the mediation of his prophet, and because, in the present disposition of the nation, it might be effected without bloodshed. If the remark of Polybius be in all cases true, that all aristocracies and democracies terminate at last in monarchy,'t this change must have taken place in some future time, and perhaps might have been attended with civil war. By this alteration of the constitution the theocracy was indeed thrown somewhat into the shade, as it was no longer so manifest that God was the king of the Hebrews. Still, however, as the principles of the theocracy were interwoven with the

See engraving, page 227.

+ Hist. lib. v. 6, 7.