he died his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." And the Israelites wept for him thirty days.* Q. What was his character?

A. He was faithful to God, disinterested and zealous in promoting the welfare of Israel,-a man of great courage, and yet the meekest of all men on the face of the earth.t

Q. What books are attributed to him?

A. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.+

Q. What memorable prediction did Moses utter concerning Christ?

A. He said, "The LORD thy God will raise up unto

* Moses is closely identified, in several particulars, with the Bacchus of pagan tradition. Bacchus is called Musas, because taken out of the Nile on which he had been exposed; was educated in Arabia, at Nisa,-by transposition Sina; fled from persecution to the borders of the Red Sea; conducted a vast multitude of men and women through Arabia to India, where he was commissioned by Jupiter to destroy a sinful nation; was followed by a dog, in Hebrew Caleb; by his thyrsis, a sort of magic wand, produced rivers of wine; and had horns, usually emblems of power, but here referred to the radiance or glory, with which, as a sort of divinity, he was invested.See M. L'ABBE DE TRESSAN'S MYTHOLOGY.

+ Numb. xii. 3.

These are usually termed the Pentateuch, or five books: Genesis treats of the creation; Exodus, of the departure of Israel from Egypt; Leviticus, of certain ordinances relative to the Levitical priesthood; Numbers, of the numeration of the people; and Deuteronomy, of the recapitulation of the law: hence the origin of these names.

thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,

like unto me; unto him shall

ye

hearken."*

CHAPTER. V.

From the Death of Moses to the Reign of Saul.t

A. M. 2552. Q. Who succeeded Moses ?

B. C. 1452. A. Joshua, the minister of Moses, whom the Lord had appointed to conduct his people into the promised land.‡

Q. What was the first business he undertook?

A. He sent spies to Jericho, and prepared to attack it. Q. Did the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassites fulfil the compact they had made with Moses?

A Yes; about forty thousand of them armed for war, passed over Jordan¶ to the plains of Jericho.

*Deut. xviii. 15-19. Acts iii. 22. 23. vii. 37. See BP. NEWTON on the Prophecies, Dissertation vi. vii. + During this epocha, profane history records B. C. The reign of Minos in Crete

The Argonautic expedition to Colchis The destruction of Troy by the Greeks + Numb. xxvii. 15-23.

1406

1263

1184

¶ The Jordan, or river of Dan, is so called from Dan, a small city, near its source. It is famous in holy writ, where it is sometimes, like the Nile and the Euphrates, designated "the river." It rises in Lake Phiala, "near Cæsarea Philippi, at the foot of Antilibanus, whence it passes under ground, and, emerging to the light from a cave in the vicinity of Paneas, it flows due south through the centre of the country, intersecting the lake

Q. At what season did Israel pass over Jordan ? A. At the time of the harvest, when the river overfloweth all its banks.*

Q. What signal honour did God confer upon Joshua on this occasion ?

A. As soon as the feet of the priests, who bore the ark of the Lord, touched the river's brink, the water was miraculously divided, and the whole host passed through on dry ground, as their fathers had passed through the Red Sea forty years before. This event filled the Canaanites with consternation.

Q. How did Joshua commemorate this?

A. By the erection of twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and by the erection of another monument in Gilgal, of twelve stones taken from the midst of the river.

Q. What important ceremony took place at this time? A. The Israelites received the seal of the Abrahamic covenant; and the place in commemoration of it was called Gilgal.

Merom and the sea of Galilee, [and it is said] without mingling with its waters; and it loses itself in the lake Asphaltites or Dead Sea, into which it rolls-with such rapidity as to prevent a strong, active, and expert swimmer from swimming across it. The course of the Jordan is about one hundred miles.". HORNE'S Introduction, vol. iii.

* At the vernal equinox, when the barley harvest took place, the Jordan was swollen by the rains, and the melting of the snow upon Mount Lebanon. The summer follows the barley harvest here and in Egypt. Jer. viii. 20.-See HORNE.

The knives used on this occasion were probably sharp stones or flints, like that spoken of, Exodus iv. 25.

Q. What display of Divine power had they in Gilgal? A. They kept the passover at the appointed time, and having on the day following, eaten of the produce of the land, the manna with which they had been fed for forty years, forthwith ceased.

Q. Who appeared to Joshua near Jericho ?

A. The Captain of the Lord's host.*

Q. How was Jericho taken ?

A. The Israelites compassed the city in silence once every day for six days; but on the seventh day they compassed it seven times, accompanied by seven priests bearing trumpets. At the seventh and last time, the priests giving a signal by a blast of the trumpet, all the people shouted, and immediately the wall fell down flat, and the Israelites rushed into the city, and put all the inhabitants, save Rahab and her friends, to the sword.

Q. Why was Rahab spared?

A. "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, because she had received the spies with peace."

Q. Why has her history been so minutely detailed? A. Because she is one in the line of the ancestry of the Messiah.

Q. What became of the city?

A. It was set on fire; and the spoil was devoted to

* Joshua v. 13-15.

+ Keren ha jobail, not the ram's horn, but the jubilee horn or trumpet, according to Mr. Parkhurst, who is borne out by Exodus xix. 13. where the trump of God is termed jobail ;--a name derived, according to some, from Jubal, the inventor of musical instruments, Gen. iv. 21. The jubilee had its name from being ushered in by the jobelim or trumpets, Lev xxv.9, 10.

up

and

the Lord.* And Joshua adjured the people, saying, "Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first- born, and in his youngest son shall he up the gates of it."+

set

Q. Who privately took of the spoil?

A. Achan: "therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies," but were defeated in their attack upon Ai.

Q. How did Joshua act under this reverse?

A. He and the elders cried earnestly to the Lord, who hearing their prayer, made known to Joshua the crime that had been committed, and directed him to bring the Israelites before the Lord by their tribes, by their families, by their households, and, lastly, man by man. Q. Upon whom did the lot fall?

A. Achan, of the tribe of Judah, was taken; and having confessed he had secreted a Babylonish garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold, he was condemned to die.

Q. How was he put to death?

Every thing thus devoted to the Lord, was submitted to a purification: if it could endure fire, it was passed through fire; if not, it was passed throngh water, Numb. xxxi. 23. To these modes of purification, the tribulations through which believers enter the kingdom are compared, Psalm lxvi. 10. 12 Isaiah xliii. 2. In these customs, probably long anterior to the establishment of the Israelitish polity, purgation by ordeal may have originated.

+ See 1 Kings xvi. 34.