EXERCISES ON DEUTERONOMY.

What is meant by Deuteronomy? Why was a repetition necessary? What is contained in the first section ?

And from the fifth to the twenty-fifth chapters? Against what crimes did Moses especially warn the people of Israel ?

Which were the cities of refuge east of the Jordan ?

How were the precepts of the law to be kept in remembrance? Where were they to be set up? And in what manner?

To whom did Moses entrust the book of the law?

When was the law to be publicly read? How often?
What remarkable prophecy was uttered by Moses?
Whence did Moses see the promised land?

Why was he not permitted to enter it ?

In what range was Mount Nebo? What is meant by Pisgah ?
What happened then to Moses? How old was he?
Where was he buried? How long did the people mourn?

CHAPTER XII.

JOSHUA.

THIS is the first of twelve historical books, which extend over a period of one thousand and thirty-one years, from B.C. 1451 to 420.

There were fourteen Judges, who ruled during about four hundred years, until the appointment of Saul as king.

The book of JOSHUA contains a history of the chief events in the Hebrew history, during twenty-six years, under the guidance of Joshua.

It contains twenty-four chapters, the first section of which relate the conquest of Canaan, in eleven chapters; the second eleven describe the division of the lands among the eleven tribes; and the remainder contain the farewell addresses and exhortations of Joshua, before his death.

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Joshua appointed Leader.-Now after the death of Moses, the Lord said unto Joshua: Moses, my servant, is dead; now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give them." "There shall not any man be able to stand before thee, all the days of thy life; as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee; I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

"Be strong, and of good courage; for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest."

Then Joshua commanded the people to prepare food; for in three days they would advance to take possession of the land. And he called on Gad and Reuben to be ready, and they willingly obeyed.

The Spies. And he sent two spies from Shittim to spy out Jericho, who were received by Rahab, one of the women who dwelt there, in a house built on the wall. And when the king of Jericho sent for these messengers, she hid them under flax on the flat roof of her house, and they swore to spare her and her household when Jericho was taken.

And the spies reported that the hearts of the people melted with fear of the coming invaders; and Joshua commanded an immediate advance.

Jordan divided.-The Jordan was then overflown, so that the people could not cross, but he ordered the priests to advance with the ark unto the brink of the river.

And as the feet of them that carried the ark were dipped in the brink of the river, the waters divided, and allowed the host of Israel to cross, while those that bare the ark, stood firm in the midst on dry ground. B.C. 1451.

And forty thousand men of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, passed over in advance, fully prepared for war, leaving their families and property behind.

Thus the Lord magnified Joshua, in the sight of all the people.

Manna ceases. And they came to Gilgal, and they set up twelve stones as a memorial of their wonderful passage; and afterwards all the males were circumcised, and they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the plain of Jericho.

And the next day after the passover, the people did eat the old corn of the land, and the manna ceased to appear.

Jericho taken.-Now Jericho was strictly shut up, and Joshua besieged it. And the Lord commanded their army to go round it six days, once each day, and on the seventh day seven times.

At the end of the seventh day's procession, the priests were to blow with rams' horns, and the people to shout, and the walls should fall down flat, so that nothing would hinder their taking the city. And it was so, and the people were destroyed, except Rahab and her household, as the spies had promised.

Ai and Achan's offence.-The next place besieged was Ai, north-west of Jericho, but the Israelites were repulsed. In the deepest sorrow and surprise, Joshua casts himself down before the Lord, to bewail this misfortune.

Being informed that the sin of private plunder among the people was the cause of it, lots were cast to discover the offender; Achan of the tribe of Judah was taken, and confessed that he had hidden in his tent, gold, silver, and a rich Babylonish garment.

Achan and his family were stoned to death, as a punishment, and their property and plunder burned in the valley of Achor.

Ai was soon after taken, and burned; the people put to the sword, and the king hanged on a tree until evening.

The Law written.-Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal, and wrote upon stones a copy of the law of Moses. And he gathered the people half on one side of Mount Gerizim, and half on the other, and there he read to them all the words which Moses had written so that all might hear the word of the Lord, as Moses had commanded. Deut. xxxi. 11.

The Gibeonites.-Now the hearts of the people of Canaan melted with fear, because of the destruction of Jericho and Ai.

And they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua.

But the men of Gibeon were afraid, and they endeavoured by cunning to save themselves alive. They took old clothes, clouted shoes, mouldy bread, and old wine bottles, and presented themselves to Joshua as ambassadors from a far distant country.

As such, Joshua, and the princes of the congregation, made a league with them, and a treaty of peace. Three days after, they learned that the Gibeonites inhabited the neighbouring cities of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim.

"And Joshua made them hewers of wood, and drawers of water, for the congregation, and the altar of the Lord, unto this day."

Gibeon besieged.-Then the five kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon, gathered their armies together and laid siege to Gibeon, because the Gibeonites had made a treaty with Joshua.

And the men of Gibeon sent to ask help of Joshua, and he went up from Gilgal, and fell upon them by night suddenly; he utterly defeated them, and killed the five kings, who had taken refuge in a cave at Makkedah.

And while the Israelites were pursuing, the Lord

sent great hailstones upon their enemies, and destroyed many of them.

And Joshua commanded the sun and moon to stand still on that day, and they did so, until the enemy were entirely destroyed.

After this, Joshua took Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, Debir, and all the cities of the south and south-east, and returned to Gilgal with very much spoil.

The Anakim destroyed.-Then the kings of the north gathered together against Joshua, and Jabin, king of Hazor, became their leader. But they were defeated, with great slaughter, at the waters of Merom, in Galilee; and all their cities were taken and destroyed. Thirty-one kings and cities, besides those of Sihon and Og, which Moses had destroyed.

And Joshua cut off the Anakim, the sons of Anak the giant, of whom the spies had been so much afraid, and destroyed all the walled cities, and there were no Anakim left, except in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, on the coast of the Philistines.

So that in about five years, the land had rest from war; B.C. 1446.

Caleb's inheritance.-And Joshua gave to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the city of Hebron and the hill district around, as Moses had said unto him.

And Caleb was eighty-five years old, and he was as strong as when Moses sent him to spy the land.

And Joshua divided the lands which had been taken, and gave to Judah by lot part of the lands which had been taken; he also defined the boundaries of the tribes of Manasseh, Gad, and Reuben, on the east of Jordan.

The Tabernacle set up.-And after these things, he set up the tabernacle at Shiloh, which was in