came up, when the family of the Zarhites was taken the family of the Zarhites came up, and Zabdi the son of Zera, of the tribe of Judah, was taken; and when the household of Zabdi was called, Achan his son was taken. Then Achan confessed his sin, and said, "When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels' weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD." Then Achan and all that he had was brought unto the valley of Achor, and all Israel stoned him with stones; a heap of stones was raised over the spot, and long continued to mark the place where this first act of secret but wilful disobedience to a Divine command, met with its public punishment.

CHAPTER III.

AI TAKEN BY STRATAGEM. DECEIT OF THE GIBEONDEATH OF THE FIVE KINGS. FINAL

ITES.

CONQUEST AND DIVISION OF THE LAND. EXHOR-
TATION AND DEATH OF JOSHUA.

THE sin of disobedience having been atoned for by the signal punishment of the offender, the Israelites were commanded to resume their work of conquest, and success was once more promised to their arms. A feeling of distrust, however, appears to have remained, in consequence of their late repulse; and Joshua employed a stratagem, common in war in after-times, to accomplish the destruction of Ai. He chose out a body of "mighty men," and, sending them away by night, commanded them to lie in ambush near the city, and there wait concealed until the morning; Joshua and the remaining forces passing the night in the camp. The men did as they were commanded, and lay in ambush on the west side of the town, between Ai and Bethel. Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel before the people of Ai. And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai:

Now there was a valley between them and Ai. And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he wist not that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city. And Joshua and all Israel made as though they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. And all the people that were in Ai were called together, to pursue after them: And they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city. And there was not a man left in Ai* that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel. And the LORD said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai, for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city."

"And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand; and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.

* "Or Bethel," is added in the received version; the words are not in the Septuagint.

And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai. And the other issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side; and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape. And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua."

Thus was the success of the Israelites again complete. The City of Ai was destroyed, the inhabitants put to the sword, and their king hung upon a tree until evening, when, according to the humane direction of the Mosaic law, and contrary to the savage customs of that age, the body was taken down and interred: a mound of stones raised over it commemorated the event, and marked the place where the Israelites had triumphed the spoil and cattle were given to them for a prey, and not forbidden to be taken, as at Jericho.

Before proceeding further in his victorious career, and while the terror excited by his late success left him in undisturbed possession of the open country, Joshua prepared to obey the command of Moses, and recite the Law in a solemn

assembly of the people. Bringing the Israelites to the neighbourhood of Shechem, in the country afterwards called Samaria, the tribes were placed on the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, that arose on each side of a narrow valley, in which stood the priests and Levites bearing the sacred ark. Mount Ebal was barren and unfruitful. Mount Gerizim was fertile, and covered with a beautiful verdure. Here Joshua read the laws, in hearing of all the people; then the six tribes stationed on the barren mountain recapitulated the punishments which would fall upon the disobedient people, if they forsook the commandments of their inspired lawgiver, and fell into the idolatry of the Canaanitish nations: famine, pestilence, the sword of conquering enemies, and finally the loss of that land which they had now received as an inheritance. These awful denunciations ended, the tribes on the lovely mountain of Gerizim, repeated back the blessings which would for ever attend the chosen people of the LORD, if they resisted all temptations to idolatry, remained true to their sublime faith, and trusted and obeyed their holy and beneficent Creator. "There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.”

"Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel, in Mount Ebal. As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of