Gideon were assassinated, and the impious wretch who had caused their death, was proclaimed king, in the plain of Shechem. Jotham, the youngest son of the deceased warrior, fortunately escaped the fate of his brethren, and embraced this opportunity of addressing the tumultuous assembly from the summit of Mount Gerizzim: "The trees," said he, "once assembled to make choice of a king: they offered the supreme dignity to the olive tree, but received for answer that it could by no means divest itself of those qualities which were so acceptable to God and man, to reign over them; the fig-tree, being applied to, refused them on account of its sweetness; and the vine preferred its juice to the proffered honor. At length the bramble, being invited to accept the dominion over them, replied that, if their designs were congenial with their professions, they should come and take shelter under its shadow, or otherwise that fire should come out of the bramble and destroy the cedars of Lebanon. Now therefore," continued Jotham, 06 if ye have acted with either justice or gratitude in murdering the sons of your late benefactor, and in bestowing the regal dignity upon Abimelech, then rejoice ye in your new king, and may he rejoice in you: but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from them and consume Abimelech."

Jotham had no sooner uttered this bold expostulation than he fled to the city of Beer, in the vicinage of Jerusalem, where he continued during the remainder of Abimelech's reign, which, according to his prediction, proved both vexatious and of short duration; for besides his mortification at finding that none of the tribes would acknowledge his sovereignty, a spirit of dissen

sion is expressly said to have been raised between him and the Shechemites, which propelled the latter to expiate their folly by his death: but God permitted him to escape for the present, that he might inflict a more severe chastisement upon him.

Gaal the son of Ebed, being informed of the discontent of the Shechemites, resolved to blow the flame into an open rupture, and even designed to fortify the city against the object of their aversion: but Zebul the governor of the town, gave Abimelech full intelligence of these proceedings; and Gaal and his followers were defeated with dreadful slaughter: the inhabitants of Shechem were also cruelly massacred; the city was rased to the ground, and strewed with salt; and the chief conspirators, who had retired to the temple of Baal Berith, were reduced to ashes with that idolatrous fane. Thus was Jotham's wish awfully accomplished, "Let fire come out from the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon."

Flushed with his success against these revolters, Abimelech marched against the inhabitants of Thebez, a city of Judah; and compelled them to retire into a tower, which he resolved to burn, like that of Baal Berith but on his advancing to the entrance of the fortress, a certain female threw down part of a millstone, which fractured his skull, and reduced him to the necessity of requesting his servant to dispatch him, lest it should be reported that he had fallen by the hands of

a woman.

After the demise of this impious fratricide, the Hebrews returned to their idolatrous practises, and even multiplied the number of their false gods-a defection which enabled the Ammonites and Philistines to subdue

and keep them in subjection for the space of eighteen years. The calamities which they endured under these oppressors caused them to repent of their ingratitude and to cry for deliverance to the God of their fathers: but they were told to apply for succour to the deities, whose worship they had so often and so eagerly embraced. At length, however, the Almighty vouchsafed to interpose on their behalf, and Jephthah, the son of Gilead, was appointed judge and general of all the Israelitish forces. This valiant character levied troops and made all other arrangements with the utmost dispatch; but, previously to his taking the field, he made a rash vow that he would, if victorious, sacrifice the first living creature that should come out of his house to meet him on his return. This inconsiderate affirmation tarnished the glories, and embittered the enjoyment of his exertions; for though the Ammonites were utterly defeated, and Israel acquired an immense booty, the only daughter of the conqueror proved the victim of his imprudence; for, hearing of her father's triumphant return, she went out at the head of a company of virgins to meet him with timbrels, dances, and other testimonies of rejoicing. At this affecting sight, Jephthah rent his clothes in the agony of grief, and acquainted his beloved child with her sad destiny: but she behaved with greater fortitude, and expressed the utmost readiness to die, on condition that she might, for the space of two months, retire with her companions to the mountains, and there bewail her melancholy fate.

This dear bought victory was attended with other inconveniencies to Jephthah; for he had scarcely returned to his own house, before the Ephraimites assembled, in a tumultuous manner, and threatened him with

the heaviest effects of their displeasure, because he had presumed to engage the enemy without requesting their assistance. Hereupon the general reproached them so .severely with baseness and pusillanimity, that they pro ceeded to hostilities, and a fight ensued in which the Ephraimites were defeated with the loss of forty-two thousand men. No farther mention is made of Jephthah, except that he judged Israel six years, and that he was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

Elon, of the tribe of Zebulun, is said to have borne the office of a judge, among the Israelites, for the space of ten years, and to have been buried at Ajalon: but none of his actions have been transmitted to posterity.

Ibzan, the successor of Jephthah, was a native of Bethlehem. He had thirty sons, and as many daughters, whom he lived to see married: and governed Israel seven years.

Abdon, an Ephraimite and a native of Pirathon, appears to have enjoyed the magistracy for about eight years: but he is merely noticed, in Scripture, on account of his numerous progeny; having left, at his decease, forty sons, and thirty grand-sons, who rode upon as many asses colts according to the custom of the opu lent Israelites.

Eli, who united in his own person the dignities of judge and high-priest, is particularly remarked for his remissness and indolence, especially toward his own. sons, whom he suffered to practise every species of licentiousness and debauchery, without reproof or correction. However he seems to have been chosen by the Almighty as the properest judge for a people who had again involved themselves in thraldom by their

apostacy and who were too apt to trust for deliverance to an arm of flesh.

After the rebellious tribes had groaned for a considerable time under their oppressors and the severity of their chastisement had led many of them to repentance, the Supreme Being raised them up a deliverer in the person of Samson, whose birth and extraordinary prowess had been predicted, to his parents, by an angel, and who soon began to exhibit marks of superior bravery in the camp of the Danites, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

This valiant youth having become enamoured of one of the virgins of Timnath, invited thirty Philistines to the celebration of his marriage and proposed a riddle for their solution within the seven days of the festival, promising to give thirty sheets and thirty changes of apparel to each man on their giving the required answer, and reminding them that he should expect a similar present if the enigma defeated their ingenuity. For three days the guests puzzled themselves with the solution; but, finding all their attempts fruitless they threatened to inflict the most dreadful severity upon the bride, their country woman, and her father's house, unless she devised some method to extricate them from their perplexity. Hereupon she requested her husband to explain his riddle to her in confidence, and wearied him so effectually with her unremitting importunities that he, at length, informed her of his having slain a young lion. in the vineyards of Timnath, and of having seen, on another occasion, the carcase of the animal filled with bees and honey, which gave him the idea of proposing, as an enigmatical question, "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.' This important intelligence was immediately communi

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