its inhabitants and enslaved others. Let us be thankful that we live under a dispensation-that of Jesus Christ-which commands us to love, not slay, our enemies. But how little the world in the time of Joshua was ready for receiving and honouring so high and benign a command, may appear from the fact, that even now, eighteen hundred years after that command was given, wars and fightings not only remain, but in every nominally Christian country are encouraged and upheld alike by the government and the people. Even war, however, has in the hands of God been an instrument of good; nor is it easy to see how the children of Israel could have been made to shun and hate the idolatry of the Canaani'tes, or have gained a national existence in their country, had they not employed the sword. The destruction was only partial. In most parts of the country, remnants of the old inhabitants survived the war, and in the course of time proved sources of great religious corruption, and occasions of much national and individual suffering to the Hebrews.

The conquest of the land of Ca'naan is described in the Book of Jo'shua, which is so called because Joshua was the leader of the undertaking. The same subject is continued in the early part of the Book of Judges, a name derived from the judges, or chief rulers, of the country or some portions of it. Both these books bear traces of great antiquity, and, if brought into their present state in the time of David, obviously contain documents which were written at or near the time of the recorded events. This is specially true of the short narrative called the Book of Ruth, because Ruth is the principal character in the story; a work which originally formed part of the book termed the Judges, and which affords interesting sights into the private life of the Israelites of the day, and presents in Ruth a charming picture of private and domestic worth. Naomi also and Boaz, as well as Orpah, Ruth's sister, are interesting and instructive characters. In the men and women of the account we have to do with Jews and Moabites, but what they have in common with human nature is far more than what is peculiar to their race and religion; and while the Bible abounds in characters of the kind, it cannot fail to recommend itself to every good heart, will be highly valued, and deserves to be carefully studied; nor will it be of very great importance whether or not we can in every case tell the exact age when, or the persons by whom, its books were written.

The pictures contained in the Book of Ruth (so called from the name of the chief character), and a few other passages in the Judges, give to the feelings a relief while we peruse the sketches of war, bloodshed, oppression, and revenge, which constitute a large portion of the short narrative which tells the history of about five centuries spent by the Israelites in social disorder and confusion. This period lasted from Joshua to

Sa'muel. The government was a commonwealth, or kind of republic, with now a hero as Joshua, now a freebooter as Jephtha, now a priest as Eli, for an earthly ruler, under the title of Judge, and Jehovah for the supreme head of the nation. His sway, however, was very imperfectly acknowledged; for, owing to idolatry, wickedness, and anarchy, the institutions of Moses came but very slowly into operation. While, however, the nation was undergoing an education for a higher social existence, there did not fail to exist in the midst of it very many good and happy homes, of which no notice is found in the imperfect and fragmentary annals of the Hebrews: indeed, history in general is too apt to pass over and leave unnoticed the excellences of character and the true happiness which are found in private life, and which form the foundations of a nation's strength and its true titles of honour.

In the midst of social disorder and religious unfaithfulness, the Israelites, aided by the favour which God showed to the good, made progress towards a higher state of society; and the inconveniences and evils which they suffered under, made them desire a new form of government. Tired of alternate servitude, war, tyranny, and weakness, they thought they should find the honour and happiness that they desired under the rule of a king. At their earnest request, and contrary to his own convictions, Samuel aided them in the appointment of Saul.

This great change in the Hebrew commonwealth took place in the year 1095 before Christ, and presents us with a state of society which, in regard to both government and literature, is far in advance and far superior to any thing found in Italy or Greece. The reigns of David and Solomon, which shortly ensued, have a brilliancy and a duration which we are unable to find in at least the early portions of Greek or Roman history. We cannot then deny that, in a civil point of view, the legislation of Moses had not failed to produce good results; a conclusion which will be greatly confirmed if we consider that under both those monarchs the service of Jehovah was honoured with the national sanction, and ample provision made for public worship in his temple at Jerusalem. It is true that idolatry still held sway over gross hearts and deeply infected the lives of many. But it was a great result that the sole godhead of the Creator had come to be the acknowledged truth of the nation, the rallying-point and central light of its existence.

After a reign of forty years (Acts xiii. 21; Joseph. Antiq. vi. 14, 19), Saul gave place to David (1055 to 1015 A.C.), who, in a reign of the same duration, completed the conquest of the country of which he became the sole ruler, and extended his sway over the wandering tribes in the deserts of Syria and Arabia, making the Nile on the south-west and the Euphrates on the east the limits of his empire. David's chief merit, how

ever, is found in his 'Divine Songs,' which, composed by himself and sung to the lyre on occasions of joy and sorrow, formed the kernel of the collection of poems which, in our Bible, bears the name of Psalms (Sacred Songs), and which, brought into existence occasionally during several hundred years, chiefly in order to be sung in the grand and solemn musical services of the temple, have for above two thousand years been the chosen and precious vehicle for conveying to their Maker the devotion, gratitude, love, and penitence of the best men and women in the world.

Solomon (1015 to 975), the son of David, having succeeded his father, took immediate steps for erecting the temple on Mount Mori'ah, on the eastern side of Jerusalem, just below Mount Olivet. Having built and dedicated the temple to the sole worship of Almighty God, he appointed to perform the services of the law therein priests and levites, who, under the high-priest, formed a large and powerful body, supported by a tenth part of the produce of the soil and a share in the public sacrifices; and who were useful, not only in sustaining the religion of the nation, but also in forming and preserving its literature, remains of which we have in the Bible, as well as in acting as physicians, lawyers, and judges. By the splendour of his reign, and by his wisdom and writings, Solomon acquired a renown which has spread more widely and lasted a longer time than that of any other mere man.

CHAPTER III.

FROM REHOBOAM TO HEROD THE GREAT.

A. C. 976 to U. C. 714, A. C. 40.

In the beginning of the reign of Solomon's son and successor, Rehoboam (A. C. 976 to 959), the kingdom of David was divided into two, namely, that of Judah and that of Israel. This unhappy division, which was never healed, arose from the youthful folly of Rehoboam, who refused to listen to a request that he would lighten the burdens of the people. The former kingdom, under twenty monarchs, lasted for 388 years (comp. Ezek. iv. 5); the latter came to a termination in 241 years (comp. Joseph. Antiq. ix. 14, 1), after having had eighteen kings. The downfal of both was occasioned by disobedience to God, and the idolatry and sins of which that disobedience was both the cause and the consequence.

Punishment was inflicted by the great Ruler of men on these guilty nations by expatriation. The chief and most useful men, first of Israel and then of Judah, were carried captive into Baby

lonia, where they remained in servitude for seventy years. During this season of affliction, the Israelites became blended into one nation, and, learning wisdom by what they suffered, gave their hearts to the sole and exclusive worship of the only God.

Thus changed for the better, they were now in a condition to fulfil less imperfectly the mission with which they were charged, in becoming a channel for conveying to the world the lofty and benign truth, that there is one God and none other but he. Accordingly, in the dispensations of Divine Providence, Cyrus, having become master of the empire of Babylon, and having founded the empire of the Medes and Persians, issued, in the first year of his reign (536 A. C.), a decree, giving permission to the Jewish exiles to return home. Under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemi'ah, the state and polity were constituted anew after the model found in the writings of Moses; and for a period of about two centuries the nation enjoyed prosperity under the government of the Persian monarchs.

Their empire fell before the victorious arms of the Grecian Alexander (333 to 324 A. C.); and in the division of his extended empire, Palestine came under the dominion of the Macedonian rulers of Egypt and Syria. At length, in the reign of one of the latter, namely, Anti'ochus Epi'phanes (175 A. C.), the Jews, maddened by shameful tyranny, broke into open rebellion, when, under the heroic guidance of Judas Maccabe'us and Simon his son, they broke their chains and exacted milder treatment.

A new power was, however, now extending its sway over the face of the world, and the Jewish nation was destined to receive its yoke and perish by its arms. The year 73 (A. C.) saw the Roman general, Pompey, in Jerusalem; and from that year must we date the loss of Jewish independence. With characteristic prudence, indeed, the Romans left an appearance of national liberty to the Jews, who were governed by rulers of their own election, under that Roman patronage which, in reality, was servitude. In the year 37 (A. C.), Herod, an Idume'an, and therefore not of pure Jewish blood, took Jerusalem and its sceptre by force of arms; and a short time before the decease of that brutal and sanguinary monarch, was our Saviour born under his sway.

Our authorities for this narrative are found in the biblical books which bear the names of Samuel (from the name of the prophet), Kings (from narrating the deeds of kings), Chronicles (that is, historical notices arranged in the order of time), Ezra (from the leader so called), and Nehemi'ah (from the leader so called), the precise period of the final completion of which is not known, but which appear to have come into existence sufficiently near the recorded events. It was customary, from the time of David, for a high state-officer to take charge of writing

an account of all chief historical facts. The documents thus prepared were consigned to the hands of the priests, who laid them up in the temple, which thus became a literary repository. From time to time, additions were made to these national writings, and in the lapse of ages the books so formed acquired a sacred character, the rather because the great aim of all of them was to record, not so much what men said, did, and suffered, as what God commanded, performed, and brought to pass. This custody by the priests of the writings which form what is termed the Old Testament, tended to preserve them from being corrupted or lost, and gave them a sanction as well as a length of existence which they could not otherwise have had. It did not, however, preserve all the productions of Hebrew and Jewish literature. Probably we have lost as much as we possess. Among the older writings must be reckoned those of the prophets, of whom Joel, who may take the lead, dates 800, and Malachi, who closes the train, may be fixed at 440 years before the advent of Christ. He who deserves to be called the greatest of the prophets-namely, Isaiah-may have assigned to him a period, of which 750 (A. C.) is the representative. The Hebrew prophets were a class of noble men. Commissioned and inspired of God, they appeared in full vigour when the Hebrew monarchy began to verge towards corruption, and, taking a high moral, religious, and patriotic tone, they laboured incessantly and at every risk to bring kings, priests, and people to a right mind, and so to save them from the calamities which, as they foretold, were the inevitable consequences and just penalties of their misdeeds. While they thus warned and threatened with a truth and a boldness that have never been surpassed, they also drew pictures of a good time coming,' most lovely and attractive, and which, stretching far beyond their own times and their own land, comprehended, with an ever-growing distinctness and an everwidening horizon, other nations, so as to show how Providence was preparing the way for making all the world blessed in Abraham. In these glowing and sublime descriptions, the prophets foresaw and predicted the day of Jehovah, and Jesus, the Christ, the Messenger of the New Covenant, who fulfilled the law and expanded Judaism into his own universal religion, and thus introduced a system, in the full realisation of which there will be no distinctions of race, condition, or colour, but all will be one, owning one God, the Father, and serving the one Lord Jesus Christ in one faith, having love for its essence, hope for its support, and charity for its fruits (Ephes. iv. 2—6).