pears however that the high priest at length invaded the military prerogative of the judge.

11. Sensible of the ignorance and perverseness of the people under his care, Moses omitted no precepts nor instructions which he thought might tend to inform their minds, to regulate their conduct, to correct their vicious propensities, and to promote their welfare and security. He prescribed rules for their diet, for the preservation of their health, and for the treatment and cure of those diseases to which they were most liable. Having conducted the Israelites through many dangers and difficulties within sight of the promised land, and appointed Joshua his successor, Moses died in 1,447 A. C.

SECTION VIII.

THE HISTORY OF THE HEBREWS DURING THE GOVERNMENT OF THE JUDGES.

1. THIS period is extremely turbulent and sanguinary; a period of barbarism, ignorance, and anarchy. We know not certainly how the judges were chosen, nor what was the extent of their power. They appear to have been military chiefs, for they commanded armies, and some of them acquired fame by successful expeditions against the enemies of their country.

2. The chiefs or rulers of the Syrian kingdoms, principalities, or townships, had chosen no common leader, or generalíssimo, nor digested any regular plan of defence against the Hebrews, who had been long hovering on the frontiers of Syria, and betrayed hostile intentions; consequently many of these petty states on both sides of the river Jordan were subdued, and the inhabitants massacred, before any league was formed for their mutual defence. At length they became apprehensive of utter destruction from their fierce and cruel invaders, and a general alliance was concerted among the remaining kings and chiefs of the country between the Jordan and the Mediterranean sea. Joshua twice attacked the combined army unexpectedly, and defeated it with great slaughter. Most of the inhabitants, except those who resided in impregnable cities on the sea coast, were put to the sword, or compelled to flee from the vengeance of their enemy. Their possessions were divided among the tribes of Israel; and thus the victorious Hebrews conquered and occupied the southern parts of Syria, called Judea or Canaan, and still known by the name of Palestine. Joshua having on many occasions received miraculous assistance in the perilous conquest of Canaan, and in the execution of the arduous and important offices of a government of incessant activity and energy, died in 1,439 A. C. leaving the Israelites in the quiet enjoyment of the country which the Lord had formerly promised to Abraham and his posterity.

3. After the conquest of Canaan the Hebrews did not continue long to observe and obey the institutions of Moses. They fell into apostacy and confusion. They were alternately harassed by intestine commotions, and reduced to temporary bondage by the nations which they had before conquered. When relieved from the miseries of a foreign yoke, they commonly became subject to the more grievous oppressions of domestic tyranny. But in the various changes of their

manners and fortunes, it is remarkable that some of their grossest idolatries, and severest afflictions, happened when the civil power and the authority of the priesthood were exercised by the same person.

4. After the death of Joshua the Israelites were governed by elders about 20 years. Then followed an anarchy of about 18 years, during which they were engaged in many successful and unsuccessful wars, and were often reduced to servitude.

After the government of the Hebrews had continued with little interruption, about 295 years, under twelve successive judges, in the form prescribed by Moses, Eli, the high-priest united in his person those powers and functions which, before his accession to the supreme magistracy, had been kept distinct. Eli appears to have been equally incapable of discharging the civil, the military, and the religious duties of his high offices. The people fell into idolatry, and were subjugated by an ancient nation called the Philistines. In a great battle with the Philistines the army of the Hebrews was routed with dreadful slaughter, and the two profligate sons of Eli were killed. The news of this disaster put an end to the life of Eli, after he had governed the Israelites forty years.

5. The next and last judge of the Hebrews was Samuel the prophet, 1,112 A. C. He brought back the people to a sense of their duty, and soon restored the departed glory of Israel by a great victory over the Philistines. They now recovered their liberty, and the cities which had been taken from them in former wars. Samuel was indefatigable in the administration of justice. When age had rendered him incapable of executing his laborious duties, he united his two sons with him in the administration of the government. But their evil conduct offended the people, who complained to Samuel that his sons were not worthy to succeed him as judges. They demanded a king to govern them. Samuel therefore assembled the people, and explained to them the extreme danger of changing their ancient form of government to that of a monarchy; but in vain. They persisted in their resolution, and a man named Saul was appointed the first king of the Hebrews, after the government by judges had subsisted, with some intermission, about 356 years, from Joshua to Saul.

SECTION IX.

RETROSPECT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE HEBREWS.

1. THE advancement of Saul to the regal dignity was the second change made in the constitution given by Moses. The commonwealth was originally a theocracy; and the people acknowledged no other king but God. They paid respect to the priests, as the superintendents of his worship; and they obeyed the judges, as the interpreters of his laws, and the delegates of his power. The succession to the priesthood was fixed, being made hereditary in the family of Aaron. The office of ruler, or judge, being apparently left to the appointment of God, and determinable neither by the choice of the people, nor by lineal descent, gave access to disturbance, violence, and intrigue. Moses prevented any public commotion by naming and consecrating a successor to himself

2. After the death of Joshua intestine divisions, or rather a spirit of licentiousness and rapine, threw the nation into a state of anarchy and confusion. As this disunion and civil disorder exposed them to the invasions of the adjacent states, military talcats and success were regarded as infallible proofs of divine favour, and conferred upon any person so distinguished, the title and authority of judge. Gideon obtained many signal victories over the Philistines, the inveterate enemies of the Hebrews, and enriched his soldiers with plunder. Out of gratitude for his services, the people offered to make him and his posterity their rulers. Though he declined the name of judge, yet he retained the power, and appropriated to himself the most valuable part of the spoils of his enemies. His natural son Abimelech succeeded to the office of judge by force and violence. Sacred history does not inform us how the next two judges obtained their dignity. After them the supreme power was committed to one of Gilead's illegitimate issue, on account of his valour and military talents. Thus the office of judge continued to fluctuate till it was annexed to the high priesthood in the person of Eli, as has been related. The death of his two vicious sons interrupted the succession in his line. The office was lastly conferred on Samuel, whose unjust and rapacious sons were thought unworthy to succeed him. The people having received no permanent benefits from the administration either of judges or of priests, resolved to appoint a king to govern them. This political innovation was the result of levity and impatience rather than of mature deliberation. It neither gave stability to the new government nor prevented the evils of the old.

SECTION X.

REGAL GOVERNMENT OF THE HEBREWS.

1. THE reign of Saul began about 1,091 A. C. He was a shepherd of lofty stature. The beginning of his reign was auspicious, and distinguished by a complete victory gained over the Ammonites, which made him popular among his subjects. But he incurred the displeasure of Samuel, the prophet, and his whole reign of 40 years, was a continued scene of foreign or domestic troubles. Being defeated in a battle with the Philistines in 1,051 A. C., he killed himself.

2. Two candidates preferred their claim to the vacant throne. Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, founded his pretensions on the right of immediate descent, and was supported by many of the tribes. David, a young shepherd, was famous for killing, with a stone thrown from a sling, a Philistine named Goliath, a man of gigantic size and strength. He had likewise been privately anointed by Samuel before the death of Saul; and his title, as of divine appointment, was therefore acknowledged by the powerful tribe of Judah. A civil war ensued, which lasted above seven years, and was terminated by the assassination of Ish-bosheth. All the tribes now submitted to David, and the kingdom became hereditary in his family, though the right of succession was still unsettled, and was transferable from one branch to another at the will of the reigning sovereign. This appears from Solomon's succession to the throne in preference to his elder brother.

3. The reign of David is illustrious and interesting. He enlarged

the bounds of Palestine by conquest, took Jerusalem, which he made the capital of his dominions, and enriched himself and his subjects with the spoils of his enemies. He revived among the people an attachment to religion by the institution of solemn ceremonies; and he introduced a taste for the arts, by inviting into the country able mechanics and artists for the completion of the grand edifices which he erected.

4. The latter part of David's reign was unfortunate. The kingdom was ravaged by pestilence, famine, and disastrous wars. His mind was harassed by domestic misfortunes. Some of his sons were disobedient and wicked. His favourite son Absalom raised a rebellion with a design to dethrone his father; but was defeated and slain. David caused his son Solomon to be crowned in 1,011 A. C., and died in 1,010 A. C., having reigned seven years and a half over Judah, and 33 years over all Israel.

5. The reign of Solomon presents a splendid view of the kingdom of Israel in the height of its prosperity, felicity, and glory, enjoying all the blessings of tranquillity in such a manner, and for such a length of time, as it never experienced in any former or subsequent period. It directed the councils of all the petty states between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean; and held the balance of power between the two great monarchies of Egypt and Assyria. Commerce flourished in a degree which, at that early period of the world, must appear extraordinary. The fleets of Israel, under the direction of Tyrian mariners, traded to the land of Ophir, which some suppose to be a district in Ethiopia, on the eastern coast of Africa. To this country they probably went by the Red Sea. By their lu crative voyages they augmented the wealth of the nation, which David had already enriched by the spoils of war. But this agreeable and prosperous condition did not continue long. Solomon, elated by uniform prosperity, set no bounds to his magnificence and luxury; and laid heavy taxes on the people to enable him to support his profuse expenditure. These burdensome imposts created disaffection in the minds of his subjects, and toward the end of his reign gave rise to a powerful faction, at the head of which was a haughty and impetuous young man called Jeroboam.

6. The most remarkable event in the reign of Solomon is the building of a magnificent temple at Jerusalem, which was completed in about seven years. The plan had been formed by David, and materials, workmen, and money, provided for its execution. This was probably the most superb and costly fabric that has been erected in ancient times.

The wisdom of Solomon is proverbial. The books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are ascribed to him, either as the author or collector; and abound with precepts and maxims that are applicable to every condition of life. But notwithstanding the superior knowledge for which Solomon was so justly celebrated, he appears to have been immersed in sensual pleasures. He had 700 wives of different countries and religions, beside 300 concubines! The allurements of those voluptuous women led him into effeminacy, and the excessive indulgence of the animal passions, and into the neglect of his important duties to God and his people; and their influence and superstitions at length drew him into idolatry. This illustrious and renowned monarch reigned 40 years, and died in 971 A. C., without leaving any memorial of his power.

7. With Solomon expired the grandeur and the tranquillity of the

Hebrews. Upon the accession of his son Rehoboam to the throne the faction of Jeroboam broke out into open rebellion, and terminated in the revolt of the ten tribes from their allegiance to the house of David. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin continued loyal to their lawful sovereign. The revolted tribes elected Jeroboam for their king, and the monarchy was split into the two separate kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 971 A. C.

8. The policy of Jeroboam produced a religious as well as a political separation. While the kings of Judah held the temple where the sacrifices were offered, and whither all the people were obliged to resort at stated times, they would always have an ascendancy over the kingdom of Israel. Jeroboam therefore thought it necessary to adopt some measures to prevent the frequent visits of his subjects to Jerusalem, the metropolis of the kingdom of Judah. The priests, the Levites, and all who were concerned in the ministry of religion, were firmly attached to the house of David; and Jeroboam supposed that they would naturally exert the influence which religion gave them over the minds of the people, to alienate their affection from his governments and to bring them back to their allegiance to their lawful sovereign. To prevent the obvious consequences of the continuance of his subjects in religious communion with the house of David and kingdom of Judah, Jeroboam sacrificed the interest of religion to his political motives. He built a new temple, and instituted a new priesthood; and thus produced a new schism among the followers of the Mosaical laws, which was never extinguished. Soon after this separation, the religion of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, deviating more and more from the original institutions of Moses, became a mixture of Judaism and Pagan idolatry.

9. After this memorable epoch in the history of the Israelites we find little more in their annals than such transactions and events as constitute the ordinary subjects of political records. The kingdom of Judah adhered with inflexible attachment to princes of the house of David; but usurpations in the kingdom of Israel were common. The history of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah during a period of almost 400 years, till the burning of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, may, with the exception of a few intervals, be called the annals of disunion, vice, wars, massacres, servitude, famine, and pestilence. In this long period of general wickedness and misery, one of the most remarkable events is a great battle fought between Jeroboam and Abijam the successor of Rehoboam. The army of the former consisted of eight hundred thousand men, that of the latter of four hundred thousand. Jeroboam was defeated, and five hundred thousand of his men were killed in the battle.*

10. At last the kingdom of the ten tribes was extinguished. The people were transported into Assyria, and dispersed into different parts of the country, whence they never returned. The common people who were left in Canaan were intermixed with strangers; and from that mixture of different nations sprung the motley race, which were afterward known by the name of Samaritans. The sad catastrophe of the kingdom of Israel is described by the prophets in very pathetic terms. The infants and pregnant women were murdered with horrid barbarity. The men, who had not been slain in battle, nor had not escaped by flight, were dragged into bondage.

The limits of this work do not admit a particular history of the generally uninteresting reigns from this period to the Babylonish captivity.