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city Timnah-serah, in mount Ephraim (it may be without any special regard to the number of his family) was yielded by common consent, as a peculiar portion to Joshua, who was of the tribe of Ephraim, on account of his great services. And lastly, it is worth notice, that as the tribe of Levy was, from this time, dispersed in certain cities among all the tribes, so they, for the most part, followed the name of the tribe, among whom they sojourned. Thus we read of a Levite in the tribe of Judah; of another in the tribe of Ephraim; because the one dwelt within the limits of Judah, and the other of Ephraim.

S- Did the Canaanites that remained permit to the Israelites a quiet possession of the land according to this division ?

T. In some parts they did; but in others they contended with them; for, though Hebron, whose name was before Kirjath-arba, and Debir, formerly called Kirjath-sepher, or the university or seat of learning, were allotted to Caleb; yet he could not obtain psssession of these cities, till he, assisted by Othniel his nephew, had driven the Anakims from their holds; for which service, Caleb gave Othniel his daughter Achsah in marriage, and dowered her with several springs, that lay con venient to her husband's estates. Nor could the whole tribe of Judah ever drive the Jebusites out of Jerusalem, among whom they lived to the time of king David. Nor could the Ephraimites dispossess the Canaanites from Gezer, but only made them tributaries; some also continued among the Manassites.

S. Where was the camp all this time?

Israelitish

T. At Gilgal; but as soon as the children of Judah and Joseph had received their allotment of the land of promise, Joshua led them to Shiloh, and there set up the tabernacle, where it continued till the days of Samuel. As Shiloh was situate almost in the centre of Canaan, it was the most convenient place for the tribes to resort to; and was also the safest place for the residence of the tabernacle, being guarded by Judah, and the children of Joseph, two of the most powerful bodies of the Israelites. Here the seven tribes, who had nct as yet drawn their lots, encamped, till that was done, and their territories assigned to all their satisfactions. After all things were thus regulated, Joshua called tege. ther the Reubenites, Gadites, and half tribe of Manasseh, who had now served almost seven years as auxiliaries in the wars of Canaan; and having acknowledged that they had duly executed the condition which they had promised Moses, in accompanying their brethren, and helping to subdue the land, and commended their courage and fidel ity; he now exorted them to continue stedfast in their duty to God,. and recommended to them to distribute among their brethren at home, a share of the rich booty they had taken from the Canaanites; and having blessed them, he gave then an honourable dismission.

S. Did Joshua give up all authority over these tribes on the cast of Jordan?

T. It cannot be supposed that he did; and, if we may credit the Samaritan chronicle, when he sent

them away, he appointed Nephiel to be his deputy or lieutenant over the two tribes and a half, on the other side Jordan. It says, more. over, that Joshua cloathed him with a royal robe, set a crown on his head, and made him ride on a horse of state, with a herald going before him, and proclaiming, This is the king of the two tribes and an half, the president of justice, the director of affairs, and the general in the camp; let his determination be conclusive; but in all difficult causes let him desire an answer from Eleazar the high priest; and if any one shall contradict his sentence, or withdraw from his allegiance, it shall be lawful for any one to kill that man, and the whole congregation shall be blameless.

sacrifices to all the tribes.

This

account so enraged the tribes who were with Joshua, that they immediately took up arms for the vindication of the worship of the true God, but before proceeding to extremities, they deputed Phineas, with ten other persons of eminent distinction, to enquire into the fact; and being informed by the Reuben ites, Gadites, and Manassites, of their innocence of any idolatrous intention; and that this altar was not erccted for any religious use, but only as a memorial to succeeding ages; that though they were parted by Jordan from their brethren, yet being of one extraction and religion, they had an equal right to the altar at Shiloh with them; and to prevent their latest

S. By what name was their coun- posterity from being excluded from try afterwards called?

T. Gilead, from Gilead the son of Machir, and grandson of Manasseh.

S. Did the Israelites in Canaan preserve a good correspondence and a fection for these their brethren, settled on the east side of Jordan?

T. Yes; but by a mere accident, it had like to have happened otherwise; for the Reubenites, on their arrival on the other side of Jordan, erected an altar of memorial near the place where they and their brethren had miraculously passed over the river. It had been represented to Joshua, that this new altar was intended for idolatrous worship for the two tribes and a half; and that they had resolved to forsake the worship at the altar, which had been set up with the tabernacle at Shiloh, and which was ordered by God, for that time to be the common place for burnt offerings, and other

it; and that this new altar was calf. ed by them Ed, or a witness between the other tribes and them, that the Lord was their God also; the deputies returned satisfied with this account, and assurance of their upright intention, and peace and good harmony was restored between them.

S. What was that form of government called, under which the Israelites lived.

T. It was properly a theocracy, or divine government; for, as Moses, so did Joshua all his days, rule them from time to time, according to God's immediate appointment. The same may be affirmed of the Judges, who were no other than God's vicegerents over his people Israel. God was truly their king made laws and statutes, established rewards and punishments to inforce the observance of them, and gave orders and directions in all matters

of moment, out of the Shechinah, or pillar of glory mentioned before, during the life of Moses; and by the oracle of Urim and Thummim in the days of Joshua and his successors: for, tho' the Israelites provoked, and, as it were, rejected God from being their immediate governor, by setting up Saul to be their king; yet Solomon is said to sit on the throne of the Lord, and the kingdom of his posterity is called the kingdom of the Lord. When Moses delivered the laws of God to the Israelites, he did it in such a strain of high authority, as pointed out the fountain from whence they did flow. His promises of blessings to the obedient, and demunciations of curses on the disobedient; and the very manner in which the commandments were delivered, spake forth the theocracy of God.

The Israelites, who were a selfish and stubborn generation, and inclined to murmur against God, on every appearance of distress, must have been well persuaded of God's immediate government of them, or it is scarce possible to be lieve that they would ever have submitted to that burthensome rite of circumcision, or to those costly and troublesome sacrifices: with all the numerous precepts about eating, washing, uncleanness, purgations, &c. or to the ordinance of the sabbatical year, which, obliging them neither to sow their ground, nor prune their vineyards, exposed them to the greatest hazard, humanly speaking, and cast them entirely upon the providence of God for two years together: but God was not only their lawgiver, he was their captain-general also, if Iˇ may be permitted to use that term,

speaking of God. His special government of the Israelites never appeared more fully than in their triumphs under his divine providence. Was not the rod of God, in the hand of Moses, a military signal of success in their first martial exploit and victory over the Amalekites at Rephidim? Did not an angel direct Joshua in the taking of Jericho? Were not the showers of stones, which fell upon the enemies of Israel, and the standing still of the sun and moon, to give Joshua a longer time to pursue and destroy Adoni-zedek and the four kings his confederates, irrefragable proofs of God's immediate superintendency over his people?

God also acted the part of a judge in the Hebrew republic, as in the dispute between Moses, Aaron, and Miriam ; and in the case of the daughters of Zelophehad. When the blasphemer was brought before Moses, he was kept in custody till the will of the Lord could be known. And indeed it would be needless to multiply instances of this kind, when it is certain that Moses and Joshua consulted God in all difficult cases; and it is as apparent, that God was always ready to give an answer, not only to these prime ministers, but to all that succeeded in Moses's chair; when he was consulted to punish those that transgressed against his laws; to instruct those who had any scruples about the sense of his ordinances; and to determine those that were in suspence about any important undertaking.

S. How long did Joshua govern these people in the land of Canaan?

T. About twenty-six years, from the time they passed over Jordan.

S. Did he perform any remarkale exploits after the building of the altar at Shiloh, and the dismission of the two tribes and a half.

T. Sacred history makes no further mention of him for some time, till, it is probable, about nineteen years after, and in the last year of his le, he, at several times, is said to have summoned the elders of al: Israel to attend him, either at his own seat Sechem, or at Shilob; and having pathetically reminded them of all the mercies and blessings they had experienced from the Lord, from the days of Abraham and in the time of Moses, and under his administration; he exhorted them to continue stedfast in their obedieace to God's laws; threatened them with severe vengearce in case of their apostacy, and renewed their covenant with God in very ample and significant terms, which covenant he not only recorded in the book of the law, but set up a great stone near the sanctuary, as a testimony against them, in case they should prevaricate from God's scrvice; soon after this he died in the 110th year of his age.

S. Pray give me a summary account of this great man's atchievements and character?

T. He was the son of Nun, or, as the Greeks stile him, Jesus the son of Nave, of the tribe of Ephraim. He was born in the year of the world 2400. His original name was fosca, or saviour, which Moses changed into Joshua, the salvation of God, or he will save. He was so dear to Moses, that he took him very high in the mount, when he was ordered by God to receive the law upon Sinai. The care and custody of the tabernacle

of the congregatiou was committed to him. He was very solicitous and zealous for the authority of Moses; and having observed two persons who prophesied in the camp, before Moses had laid his hands on them, he informed him thereof. He was at the head of the deputation of those that were sent by Moses to reconnoitre and spy cut the land of Canaan; and he only and Caleb made a just report of the inhabitants, and the fruitfulness of the soil, for which God preserved them both, and brought them into the land of promise, but cut off all those that misrepresented the same, or would not believe their report. Joshua was appointed by God to succeed Moses in the government of his people; and Moses was commanded to lay his hands on him, and to communicate to him part of his spirit and glory To which office he accordingly succeeded; and led the people prosperously into the possession of the land of Canaan, where he subdued thirty-one kings of the Canaanites, and took all their strong hods, put the inhabitants to the sword, and enriched his own people with the spoil and wealth of the enemy. He was a man of great political prudence, and endued with a peculiar happiness of popular eloquence in expressing his thoughts; brave and indefatigable in war, and no less just and dexterous in peace; a person thoroughly qualified for all great purposes, and succeeded Moses in the prophetic as well as civil ministry.

S. Did he write that book that goes under his name in the Old Testament ?

T. It is generally accounted his;

and in the 26th verse of the last chapter, it is expressly said, that he wrote these words; the Christian church and the synagogue have always accepted of it as canonical; and Joshua was the only sacred penman, we know of, that the is raelites bad in his age. The time in which Joshua digested this book, was probably after the division of the land, when it is said that he had many years of great leisure, begin. ning at Deut. xxxiv. where the work of Moses ended, and concluding at the 27th verse of the xxivth chapter of Joshua: for the remainder of this chapter is with good reason ascribed to Samuel, who was employed to record the subsequent state of the affairs of Israel.

S. I have been told that Joshua is the author of more writings than are contained in this book?

T. The Samaritans have a book under his name, but it is filled with such an infinite number of fabulous and idle stories, that no credit can be given to its authority; it describes a war as carried on by him against Sauber the son of Haman, king of Persia: records one Terfico, of the tribe of Ephraim, to have been his successor; includes what concerns the judges and kings of Judah, Jaddus and Alexander the Great, and the sicge of Jerusalem by Adrian: these, with other such incongruities, and modern histories, plainly de monstrate this Samaritan book to be a fiction

S. Was Joshua married?

T. It does not any where appear that he either had any children, or that he was married.

S. Where was Joshua buried?
T. At Timnath-serab, in mount

Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.

S. Who was the high-priest at his death?

T. Eleazar; who, it is thought, much about the same time, buried the bones of Joseph, which the Israclites brought out of Egypt as he had desired, in the burial-place bought by his father Jacob of the sons of Hamor, uear the city of Shechem.

S. How long did Eleazar live after Joshua?

T. He died soon after, and was buried in one of the hills on mount Ephraim, called, atter his son, the bill of Phineas; either becau. e Phineas had taken it from the Canaanites, and so had it yielded to him by common consent, in reward of his zeal and courage; or was given to Eleazar; as being the high-priest, that he might be seated near to the tabernacle at Shiloh, and to the residence of Joshua.

S. Let we now review what has

been recorded in this book; and pray inform me of some particulars, which I am not fully satisfied in. What reason can be assigned, why the Canaanites trembled, and melted away for fear, at the approach of

the Israelites ?

T. They had not only heard what gicat things God had done for the Israelies from the day that Moses demanded their liberty, at Pharaoh's court; but the vast heaps of water piled one upon another, while the Israelites passed over Jordan, it may be presumed, nade those that saw them dread the same punishment, which befel the Egyptians in the Red-sea, and made them seek their refuge and security

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