EVIL COURSES OF THE ISRAELITES AFTER THE DEATH OF JOSHUA-THEY ARE BROUGHT REPEATEDLY INTO SERVITUDE-DELIVERED BY OTHNIEL, THE FIRST JUDGE-BY EHUD-BY SHAMGAR-BY DEBORAH AND BARAK.

THE Israelites were settled in the promised land, but they neglected the means for rendering that settlement lasting and happy. In the latter part of the first chapter of Judges, a full account is given of the Canaanites, and other nations, with whom the different tribes waged a desultory warfare, and whom they often allowed to remain among them as tributaries, instead of destroying them as devoted idolaters, whose measure of iniquity was filled up. At the period in question, and even in later ages, eastern warfare was carried on in the desultory, irregular, imperfect manner which is described in this part of sacred history; but we are not to view this as proceeding merely from the general character of those days and of the habits which then prevailed. It is expressly stated, Exod. xxiii. 30, and Deut. vii. 22, that these nations should be driven out from before Israel by little and little. The mighty sweep of Divine power, which accompanied the arm of Joshua at the battle of Gibeon, could in one short month, or in a single day, have cleared the land from its vile inhabitants; but the Lord had declared, forty years before, "I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee." Yet Israel was not sufficiently prompt in obeying the Divine command, when directed to go forward; and the consequences which resulted to the Israelites, from

12

EVIL COURSES AND IDOLATRY

[B. C.

allowing these idolaters to remain among them, show to the professing followers of Christ, the evils which will ensue to all who allow evil tempers, or sinful lusts, to remain unmortified in their hearts, Judg. i. 28. The disastrous consequences speedily began to appear in Canaan.

The administration of Joshua is calculated to have begun in the year 1608, B.c.* He ruled Israel about twenty-five years. His decease was soon followed by that of Eleazar, and other elders who had been associated with him. No successor in the government was appointed; the reason of this departure from the course pursued when Moses was about to end his earthly cares, is not stated in Scripture, and it is useless to make conjectures; but we find that confusion and anarchy soon prevailed. Several parts of the land were alternately possessed and re-possessed by the Israelites and the old inhabitants, as each overcame the other. Intercourse with idolaters soon corrupted the Israelites; nor need we be surprised at this; the natural tendency of the human heart must have inclined them to forsake the pure and simple observances of the law as given by Moses, for the luxury and licentiousness permitted and encouraged by the idolatrous rites and practices of the heathen amongst them. Into the details of these rites we cannot enter, and need only say, that pagan idolatry always has been much the same as it is now, both in principle and in practice. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, are directly promoted by heathenism; and nothing but watchfulness, and prayer

The dates given in this volume are from the chronology adopted and verified by Hales, which removes several difficulties in the sacred narrative, and best accords with what appears to be the real order of events related in Scripture. This system may, in some instances, differ from a part of the dates commonly printed in the margins of the larger English Bibles, but the variations do not affect any point of doctrinal importance, while they render several of the historical details more clear and interesting to the general reader.

d

ceedings.

OF THE ISRAELITES.

13

race, can keep us from falling into courses, ever varied or modified by circumstances, the same.

lites were warned as to the danger of these

The warning was given by that Divine had already personally manifested himself ccasions. The account is best narrated in f Scripture.

Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and you unto the land which I sware unto your fasaid, I will never break my covenant with you. make no league with the inhabitants of this ll throw down their altars: but ye have not oice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I will not drive them out from before you; but as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be you. And it came to pass, when the Angel of ke these words unto all the children of Israel, ple lifted up their voices and wept. And they ame of that place Bochim (or Weepers :) and ed there unto the Lord." Judges ii. 1—5.

pentance thus manifested was not lasting; id confusion prevailed in Israel; every man vas right in his own eyes. The latter chaple book of Judges relate some of these pro

We there read of the introduction and progress of idolatry, in the tribes of Dan and Ephraim. The account of the rise of open idolatry in the first mentioned tribe, is given in connexion with the account of the migration of a part of their number in search of a new place of abode; the successful revolt of the Amorites having shut them out from the most fertile part of their district. We find that Jonathan, the son of Gershon, the son of Manasseh, and his descendants, were idolatrous priests to this tribe till the day of the captivity of the land. Here it is recorded, that a son of Levi willingly engaged to perform idolatrous services, mixed up at first, probably, with some reference to the cherubim, and to the tabernacle

с

14

CORRUPTIONS OF GIBEAH.

[B. C.

services, but directly contrary to the Divine law. It is painful to learn, that the first idolatrous priest, whose name is here recorded, was, in all probability, the grandson of Moses! That appears to have been originally the statement of Scripture; but some of the Jewish scribes seem to have inserted the letter "n," which in the original makes the difference between the names of Moses and Manasseh, probably thinking to put out that statement which was intended for a warning to teach us, that no parentage, however exalted, however pious, can ensure that the like qualities will be found in the children. During this period, the awful corruptions of Gibeah, and the almost total destruction of the tribes of Benjamin, took place. Into the particulars of these events it is not requisite for us to enter. The evil and wickedness were overruled to unite the nation to punish the offenders. We find that Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, was high-priest at this time, Judg. xx. 28. The general view of the course of events that followed this rapid and extensive progress of wickedness, is given in the following short, yet forcible, statement of Scripture :

"And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obey

1572.]

FIRST SERVITUDE.

15

ing the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so. And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: that through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not." Judg. ii. 11—22.

Josephus, the Jewish historian, describes and laments the eagerness of his people to enjoy the land before they had wholly subdued it; but he does not appear to have been sufficiently aware of the proneness of the natural and unrenewed heart of man to seek for worldly ease, though contrary to the Divine word. The result of this premature desire for carnal gratifications appears to have weakened the bond of union among the tribes; each sought only the furtherance of its own interests; the Danites were compelled to withdraw before the Amorites, and when the latter were overcome by the descendants of Joseph, these tribes sought only their own advantage instead of supporting their weaker brethren. But the time of trial brought the whole nation into closer union.

The first servitude under which the children of Israel were brought, was to the king of Mesopotamia : it lasted eight years. The people then repented, and cried to the Lord; Othniel, of the tribe of Judah, the nephew of Caleb, the tried companion of Joshua, was divinely strengthened to undertake the deliverance of his nation. He succeeded, and was the first of the JUDGES of Israel. During his government, the nation