Yet Ephraim, according to the blessing to Joseph, was at first the most favoured. Not only was the land infinitely richer and pleasanter, but besides that Joseph was buried beneath Ebal ("the Mount of Blessing"), in a tomb still pointed out, it was within the bounds of Ephraim that the " place which the Lord should choose" was fixed. The spot seems to have been the encampment to which Joshua removed when breaking up from Gilgal. It was not the old sanctuary of Bethel, for that was still held by the Canaanites, but it was on a piece of flat, yet raised ground, about twelve miles from Shechem. Perhaps when Joshua saw the Tabernacle rest there, and the curtains set up around the Ark, he yet hoped to place it at sacred Bethel ; but he could not rouse the spirit of his Ephraimites, and the Ark continued where it had been placed-the oncecurtained courts were enclosed with stone walls instead of hangings; still the roof was a veil of skins and woollen material, and the sanctuary became permanent, taking the name of Shiloh, or Peace." Here the priests ministered day by day, and hither came the tribes which had already settled themselves, to bring their offerings and keep the feasts. These were Judah and Joseph; the wives and children of Reuben, Gad, and the Gileadite half of Manasseh were settled in the giant cities of Bashan, on the other side Jordan, but their prime warriors still guarded the sacred camp; and the other tribes, except that they did not eat manna, apparently lived somewhat the same life to which they had been so long accustomed, dwelling in tents, pasturing their flocks, and probably obtaining corn and other provisions from the inhabitants.

LESSON XVII.

THE DIVISION OF THE LAND.

B.C. 1444-JOSH. xviii. 2-10; xix. 49–51.

And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance.

And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you?

Give out from among you three men for each tribe: and I will send them, and they shall rise, and go through the land, and describe it according to the inheritance of them; and they shall come again to me.

And they shall divide it into seven parts: Judah shall abide in their coast on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coasts on the north.

Ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the description hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD our God.

But the Levites have no part among you; for the priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance: and Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, have received their inheritance beyond Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them.

And the men arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the LORD in Shiloh.

And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book, and came again to Joshua to the host at Shiloh.

And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.

When they had made an end of dividing the land for inheritance by their coasts, the children of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun among them:

According to the word of the LORD they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnath-serah in mount Ephraim: and he built the city, and dwelt therein.

These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, divided for an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. So they made an end of dividing the country.

COMMENT.-After Judah, Ephraim, and Manasseh were settled, Joshua still had to urge the other tribes to exert themselves; and as their situation had not been fixed by circumstances like that of the tribes of Judah and Joseph, he sent out men, three from each of the seven tribes that were still unprovided for, to survey the country, and bring him back an exact record of the cities and villages. Then, under the eye of Joshua himself and Eleazar the priest, lots were cast before the Sanctuary at Shiloh for the seven portions into which the territory had been divided.

The first lot, apparently the first choice, was Benjamin's, and that tribe took a slip of land between Judah and Ephraim, full of

steep ranges of rounded hills, the scene of the great battle of Beth-horon, and including the hills of Gibeon, and a right to half Salem, the city of Melchizedek, whenever it could be won from the Jebusites by whose name it was called, for there Benjamin bordered upon Judah, and came very near to Bethlehem, his mother Rachel's burial-place, while Bethel, where Jacob had seen the angels, lay on his border towards Ephraim. It was a place of grand recollections, and the hills and passes were a fit home for the wolf of Benjamin.

Simeon's lot came next. Evidently the first places chosen were the nearest to the settled parts, for Simeon niched themselves to the south of Judah, in lands which that tribe was not yet numerous enough to occupy. Their crime and its punishment had made them few in number, and they had their inheritance within that of their more numerous and warlike brethren. Among their cities was, however, Beersheba, the well of Isaac, and always reckoned as the most southerly point in the Holy Land.

Zebulun, who came next, took a bolder venture, settling between the Mediterranean and the Lake of Chinneroth, in the fresh mountains afterwards called Galilee; and his brother Issachar, the strong ass, who loved rest, took the portion between him and Manasseh, sharing with the latter the fertile delights of the rich plains of Jezreel, but with the fords of Jordan in the rear, needing valiant watch and ward, such as Issachar did not always give. Then Asher's lot brought him the strip of Mediterranean coast beneath the rich and noble mountain of Carmel, in near neighbourhood to the great Phoenician merchant city of Zidon. Naphtali went north of Zebulun, between the lake and the great northern range of Hermon; and Dan, who had the seventh and last lot, obtained a part of the coast between Judah and the Mediterranean, and close upon the Philistines.

Lastly, as Joshua had reserved nothing for himself, the grateful tribes gave him a dominion in Mount Ephraim, called Timnathserah, or "the portion of the Sun." The Levites had received no lot among the tribes. They were not to have a fixed territory, but single cities were appointed for them up and down among the other tribes, and three of these places were to be likewise cities of refuge—that is, a man who had killed a person by acci

dent could find shelter there from the revenge of the kinsmen till the death of the high priest, when he might return home free from danger. The three were the sacred Hebron, Shechem, and Kedesh, the last being consecrated by Joshua's victory over the northern kings.

All these divisions had better be well looked out in the map, for much in the coming history depends on the boundaries of the tribes.

LESSON XVIII.

THE FAREWELL TO THE TRIBES BEYOND JORDAN.

B.C. 1444.-JOSH. xxi. 43—45 ; xxii. 1—9.

And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein.

And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.

There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.

Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh,

And said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you:

Ye have not left your brethren these many days until this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the LORD your God.

And now the LORD your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side Jordan.

But take diligent heed* to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleavet unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away: and they went unto their

tents.

Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given possession in Bashan: but unto the other half thereof gave Joshua among their brethren * Be very careful.

+ Hold fast.

on this side Jordan westward. their tents, then he blessed them, And he spake unto them, saying, Return with much riches unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.

And when Joshua sent them away also unto

And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

COMMENT.-The conquest was as complete as it could be in the present state of Israel. Some cities of the enemy were indeed left, because there had been a command not to ruin more than could be occupied, "lest the beasts of the field increase upon you." Some, with less reason, had been left alone and put to tribute; but each tribe was settled in its lot, and held enough strong places on the hills to give security. The Canaanites were some living under tribute, some driven back on their borders, especially towards Zidon, and some had fled the country. The great Phoenician State of Carthage, on the North African coast, is believed to have been founded by these fugitives; and a Christian writer, under the Greek Emperor Justinian, reports that a column was there discovered with an inscription declaring that it had been raised by those who had fled from the face of "the robber Joshua, the son of Nun." A robber of course he seemed to them, but, as we well know, he was the faithful servant of God.

The time was come for the stout-hearted warriors of Reuben, Gad, and the Gileadite half of Manasseh to return to their homes, after the good service they had done. So Joshua blessed them, and gave them thanks for their brave support, saw that they had their full share of the silver, gold, iron, brass, and raiment, and sent them away to their chosen homes upon the eastern side of the Jordan, among the oaks and pastures of Bashan and the spice and balm-laden thickets of Gilead.